Part 6. Misdirection and Presentation
Sleight Of Hand vs. Self-Working Feats
The Importance of the Inconsequential
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all who love the art of conjuring with cards; to the most skilful adept as well as the youth yet to explore the heady mysteries of the art; to the man who comprehends the abracadabraish nomenclature of the craft as well as to those to whom such knowledge offers an open sesame to a new and exciting world; to the experienced in guileful trickery and to the tyro still experiencing the intoxicating excitement of thumbing through the textbooks of the craft; to the rich and poor, wise and foolish, young and old; to all the present generation of card conjurers as well as to the generations to come; in the sincere hope that they may find in its pages a knowledge which will enable them to add to the prestige and the dignity of the art of conjuring with cards.
FOREWORD
The authors wish to express their appreciation of the friendly spirit in which many of the tricks and sleights printed in this book were contributed by Bert Allerton, Theo Annemann, Cliff Green, Gerald L. Kaufman, Harold Lloyd, Jack McMillen, Jack Merlin, Paul Rosini, Dai Vernon and Luis Zingone.
They are particularly indebted to Charles Miller, who generously and freely gave of his favorite methods that this book might be that which the authors can only hope it will be—a comprehensive and lucid source book of expert card technique.
It was indeed a happy circumstance that Carl W. Jones of Minneapolis, accepted the manuscript for publication. Mr. Jones has endeared himself to magicians the world round for his editing and publishing of John N. Hilliard’s notable book, Greater Magic, a book that has established an all time record in popularity with magicians. It is Mr. Jones’ prediction and the authors’ wish, that Expert Card Technique will also become a standard book of card magic.
JEAN HUGARD , New York
FREDERICK BRAUE, San Francisco
November 14, 1940
INTRODUCTION
In no other branch of the art of conjuring has such progress been made as in sleight of hand with cards. Beginning with the half-dozen basic sleights known to the magician of a hundred years ago, there have slowly been evolved new methods of performing these sleights, and new sleights the purpose of which is to achieve results never dreamed of by the earliest experts. The progress of the art is milestoned by the great conjuring classics—Secrets of Conjuring and Magic, Sachs’ Sleight of Hand, the great Hoffmann trinity, Modern Magic, More Magic and Later Magic, and Lang Neill’s The Modern Conjurer. These were supplemented at the turn of the century by The Expert at the Card Table and The Art of Magic, two fine books which recorded the newer improvements in the art, the former of which even today will be found in the library of every card conjurer; perhaps no other book in all the list of conjuring books has been so avidly read, so affectionately regarded.
For three decades these books were the textbooks of the aspiring card conjurer, no new and important titles making their appearance. Then, during the middle thirties, the literature of magic was enriched by such valuable treatises as Greater Magic, by John Northern Hilliard; The Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, edited by Jean Hugard; Card Manipulations and More Card Manipulations, by Jean Hugard; and the publications of Theo Annemann, Laurie Ireland and Ralph Hull. Once again it became apparent that the art of conjuring is not static; that it is constantly moving forward in an era in which sleight of hand with cards has reached its greatest development, with new refinements, new techniques and new subterfuges displacing the older artifices. It has become apparent that there is a need for a book which would exclusively record the changes which have taken place in card manipulation since publication of the Downs and the Erdnase books, and the present volume has been written to fill that need.
The dissemination of knowledge almost invariably results in an increase in knowledge, and this is as true of conjuring as it is of science. It is nothing less than fascinating to perceive how a trick or sleight is improved by the many intelligences which leave their mark upon it, each mind shaping and improving the original concept. Always there is one goal: simplicity, which
