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WILL GOLDSTOK
GOLDSTON'S FOR EVERYTHING MAGICAL. " T H E MAGAZINE OF MAGIC" is,at once, the most authoritative, the largest, and the most perfectly produced Magazine, dealing exclusively with a technical subject, in the world, . . . Its list of regular contributors contains all the great names known to Magic. . . . All its contents are copyright and exclusive—you can only secure the valuable information it contains month by month by becoming a subscriber.
JMi^glKSn
Edited by WILL GOLDSTON.
. . . Newsy—chatty—and brimful of technical articles and advice of the greatest possible value to every performer. • ••.,• V e l 7, mOT>th, new illusions, tricks, and effects are fully described, illustrated with simple, easy-to-follow diagrams. Volume I . . . Published monthly, 1 / - net, Handsomely or, by post, 10/6 per annum. Bound, /6 • • • Specimen copy can be had Post Paid. on application by enclosing 1/1^.
ORIGINAL MAGICAL CREATIONS By STANLEY COLLINS.
112 pages. Numerous illustrations. Each Trick contains patter. Nothing like it published. A great book written by a great conjurer. Price 2 / 6 ; postage 3d.
TRICKS and ILLUSIONS By WILL GOLDSTON. Over 12,000 copies sold. In this work technical terms wherever possible have been avoided. The secrets given away in this volume cannot be obtained in any twenty books published on the subject. 250 pages, 300 illustrations Board Covers, 2/6
Cloth
„
3/6
Postage 4d. The author's autograph free,
when desired, to purchasers of this book.
SECRETS OF MAKING-UP. By J. AINSLEY BROUGH.
Over 50,000 Copies have already been Sold.
PRINCIPAL CONTENTS—The Mate-up Boi—Juvenile Part—Putting on a Wig—Middle Age-Old Men—The Hands—False Noses—To tolte out a Moustache—Fixing on Moustache or Beard—Taking out Teeth—Fake Chin—Tattoo Marks—Malting up for Fat Parts—Tramp Make-up—Dress, Powder or Court Wigs—Clown, Pantaloon and Pierrot—Barristel—Octoroons—Chinese and Japs—Sailors—Nigger Partt—To Make a Crepe Hair Beard—Quick Changing—Special Points for Ladies—Complexion Hints—Elocution. N u m e r o u s Half-tone Plates a n d P e n a n d I n k Sketches. THE MOST COMPLETE AND USEFUL WORK ON THE SUBJECT PUBLISHED. Price I s . net. Mailed Free anywhere. I s . 2d. _^
WILL GOLDSTON, Ltd.
Aladdin House, London! W.
•
MODERN CARD TRICKS WITHOUT APPARATUS
MAGICAL CREATIONS 112 pages.
Profusely illustrated.
BY STANLEY COLLINS.
Price 2/6
Postage 3d.
WILL GOLDSTON, Ltd., Aladdin House, Green St., Leicester Sq., London, W.
MODERN CARD TRICKS WITHOUT APPARATUS
By
WILL GOLDSTON
(Copyrighted in all Countries by Louis Sterling)
SOLE AGENTS
WILL GOLDSTON, LTD. ALADDIN HOUSE, GREEN STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE
LONDON, W,
I dedicate this book to HARRY HOUDINI, NATE LEIPZIC, CHUNG LING SOO, STANLEY COLLINS,
Four great performers of Card Tricks.
CONTENTS PAGE
Cut the Cards . . . g Wherewill You have It ? 9 The Card t h a t Does a Turn 10 Tricks with a Prearranged Pack . . 11 Telling the Number of Cards in the Hand by the Weight . . . 13 Thought Reading with a Medium . . . . 13 / Odd or E v e n ? . . . 14 Blindfolding ihe Cards . 15 A T h e Magnetic Aces . . 16 The Jumping Card . . 18 In the Dark . . . . 18 " Flight " . . . . 19 The Sympathetic Couple 20 The Giddy Card. . .21 v T h e Twelve Card Trick 22 The Mysterious Pair . 22 Change Over. . . . 23 The Aviator's Cards . 24 The Invisible Flight . 24 X Cards and Cigar Box . 25 Thought Reading with Eight Cards . . . 26 The Card and Pocket Mystery . . . . 27 The Three Card Trick . 29 The Mexican Turn Over 29 A Thought-Reading Trick with the whole Pack. 32 Another Thought-Reading Trick with one Card 33 " Find it Yourself " .34 Tearing a Pack in Half 35 The Boomerang Card . 36
PAGE
v
How to Throw a Card . To cause Five Cards to Vanish and Reappear Red or Black ? . . . A Novel Discovery . . Cards Caught in the Air To make a Card Travel Invisibly from One Hand to the Other . The Three Heaps . . The Four Aces . . . " Esscee " Four Aces Experiment . . . The Tables Turned . . The Disc of Cards . . The " Stanley Collins " Card Slip . . . . The Concertina Pack . The Vanishing and Appearing Pip . . . A Safe Force . . . The " A.P." Force . . Whistle A Quick Card Finding Trick New Playing Cards . . The Balancing Card . Gravity Defied . . . A Good Deception . . The Hofzinser Section . Instructions for Presenting The Sympathetic Numbers Like Thoughts . . . Thought Transmission . The Four Eights . . Everywhere and Nowhere ! . . . .
36 37 3 9 39 40 41 42 4 3 46 49 51 52 53 54 5 5 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 68 71 74 82 89 100
TRICKS with
Playing Cards Everybody plays cards, and everybody is likewise keenly interested in card tricks. Some tricks can be performed with ordinary packs; but for most, specially prepared packs are necessary. With regard to the latter sort there are, in our opinion, two essential requirements for complete success. It must be possible to perform the tricks at close quarters with the audience, and to submit the packs, although faked, in many cases for examination. In forming our stock of card tricks we have carefully kept in view these requirements. Magicians will find that with our prepared packs the tricks will run as smoothly as the process of shelling peas, and will be quite unexplainable to the audience.
WILL GOLDSTON, Ltd., ALADDIN HOUSE, GREEN
STREET,
Leicester Sq., London, W.
INTRODUCTION AN interesting little story is told by one of the old French kings. He asked a courtier to join in a game of cards. " Sire," replied the courtier, " I do not play cards." The king shrugged his shoulders, and said, " Then you are preparing for yourself a sad old age." There is truth in this dictum even at the present day. Card games form a consolation and a source of enjoyment during the years of life when physical infirmities render more active pursuits impossible. But in old age one does not learn—one only remembers. Therefore, as the French king suggested, it is in the earlier years of life that one should acquire a knowledge of, and a liking for, card games. With that knowledge and liking there comes, quite naturally, a similar knowledge of and liking for card tricks. Almost as long as games have been played with cards, tricks have been performed with them. It is quite possible that the man (or was it a woman ?) who invented the first card game also invented the first card trick. Doubtless it was a very simple little trick. But it was the pioneer of thousands more elaborate. In this book will be found the best and the newest of these thousands. In every case I have made the explanation as clear as possible. The reader should have no difficulty in following it, and in subsequently presenting the trick successfully. Although some are intended primarily for the beginner, the con-
INTRODUCTION tents of these will enable the reader to give a full and varied entertainment to his friends. For the tricks are of several sorts, and the effects are striking even if obtained by simple means. Some of the tricks are admittedly difficult and require much careful practice. But they are worth the trouble, for they are very effective when skilfully presented. A few words of advice as to the best methods of practice. When reading the explanation of a trick, hold a pack of cards in your hands and accompany the written words by the indicated " shifts" of the cards. To obtain dexterity in " cutting," " making a change," etc., stand in front of a mirror and watch the effects. If the reflections in the mirror deceive your own eyes, you may safely expect the actual movements to deceive the eyes of your audiences. A section is largely based on the work and inventions of that great performer Hofzinser. Throughout his life he specialized in card tricks. His reputation as an expert in them is an international one. But hitherto explanations of his best tricks have not been published in this country. It is at the request of several well known magicians, who happened to know I was acquainted with these explanations, that I now publish them. They will confirm the fame Hofzinser already enjoys in this country, and they will provide much new and excellent material for English performers of card tricks.