Nonplusultra sample by Stephen Minch

MAGIC CHRISTIAN

JOHANN NEPOMUK HOFZINSER 1806â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1875

Non Plus Ultra MAGIC OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Volume I A detailed examination of his life, his family, his secrets and his ingenious magic Updated and expanded

Translated from the German by Lori Pieper

H ermetic Press, Inc. Conjuring Arts Research Center

CONTENTS

PREFACE FOR THE PUBLIC �� 11 1. INTRODUCTION FOR THE PROFESSION �� 13 1.1 GENERAL �� 13 1.2 OTTOKAR FISCHER’S SOURCES �� 13 1.3 A CHANCE MEETING—THE BEGINNING OF A LONG INVESTIGATION �� 16 1.4 THE FIRST STAGES OF RESEARCH �� 17

2. THE HOFZINSER FAMILY �� 19 2.1 J. N. HOFZINSER’S GRANDPARENTS �� 19 2.2 J. N. HOFZINSER’S PARENTS �� 21 2.3 THE THREE BROTHERS OF J. N. HOFZINSER �� 22

Leopold-Franz Xaver Hofzinser �� 23

Franz-Xaver Fidelis Hofzinser �� 26

Karl-Josef Hofzinser �� 27 2.4 THE ANTON HOFZINSER FILE �� 28 2.5 THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY �� 29

3. JOHANN NEPOMUK FIDELIS HOFZINSER �� 31 3.1 HIS YOUTH �� 31 3.2 THE BOGUS TITLE OF “DOCTOR” �� 34 3.3 HOFZINSER’S CAREER AS A CIVIL SERVANT (1825–1839) �� 35 3.4 HOFZINSER, THE MUSIC CRITIC �� 37 3.5 HOFZINSER, THE ROMANTIC LITERARY FIGURE �� 42 3.6 HOFZINSER, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL AND IMPERIAL AGRI CULTURAL ASSOCIATION, AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL BAVARIAN HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION �� 43 3.7 THE EARLY MAGICIAN �� 44

Director Carl—Staberl’s tricks �� 44

3.8 HOFZINSER’S CUNNING JOB MANEUVER (1839) �� 47 3.9 HOFZINSER, THE UBIQUITOUS CIVIL SERVANT (1840–1865) �� 49 3.10 HOFZINSER’S RETIREMENT �� 51 3.11 HOFZINSER CENTER STAGE IN VIENNESE SOCIETY �� 52 3.12 HOFZINSER, COMPOSER OF WALTZES.......................................61

4. FRAU WILHELMINE HOFZINSER �� 63 4.1 THE BERGMANN FAMILY �� 64 4.2 THE WEDDING �� 64 5

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5. THE FAMOUS SALON HOFZINSER �� 71 5.1

BOSCO AND DÖBLER, THE ROLE MODELS �� 71

5.2 THE SALON HOFZINSER ON WOLLZEILE 789 �� 72 5.3 THE ATTEMPT AT A SALON IN THE VOLKSGARTEN— CAFÉ CORTI �� 89 5.4

THE NEW SALON HOFZINSER, HIMMELPFORTGASSE 953 �� 90

5.5

THE THIRD SALON HOFZINSER, WALFISCHGASSE 8 �� 96

5.6

THE LAST SALON HOFZINSER, HOTEL STADT LONDON, FLEISCHMARKT �� 100

6. HOFZINSER’S TRAVELS �� 103 7. J. N. HOFZINSER’S DEATH �� 141 8. THE PERIOD AFTER HIS DEATH �� 147 9. HOFZINSER’S STUDENTS �� 151 Benedikt Golling �� 151

Heinrich Bawinger �� 152

Escamoteur Ostermann �� 153

Dr. Bauer �� 154 St. Roman �� 154 Georg Heubeck �� 156

Ludwig Bergheer �� 156

The Mayer Brothers �� 158 Emil Gottlieb �� 158 Friedrich Berndt, Jr. �� 160

10. HOFZINSER’S MAGICIAN FRIENDS �� 163 10.1 CARL VON POSPISCHIL �� 163 10.2 CARLO MARCHINI �� 164 10.3 COMPARS (CARL) HERRMANN �� 165

11. THE DIARY OF JOHANN NEPOMUK HOFZINSER �� 169 11.1 GENERAL REMARKS �� 169 11.2 ALEXANDER PATUZZI �� 170 11.3 MAGIE. NACH DEM TAGEBUCH J.N. HOFZINSER’S �� 170

12. POEMS BY HOFZINSER �� 209

To Herr Costenoble, k.k. Court Actor �� 209

At the Grave of Antonia Oster �� 210

For the Name Day [of the Beloved, Revered Father of Our Country] �� 211

CONTENTS

Hans Sachs �� 211

To Mlle. Peche, k.k. Court Actress �� 212

To Ludwig Löwe as Hamlet �� 213

Impromptu �� 213

Cypress Wreath, Woven for My Late Friend, Slawik �� 214

To Josephine Eder �� 216

To Nina Onitsch �� 217

Concert by the Goldberg Siblings �� 217

To Her �� 218

To J. Hoven �� 218

The Hand �� 219

To J. Hoven �� 219

Charade �� 220 Charade �� 221

13. ALOIS HOFER’S VOLUME OF POETRY, PASSIFLORA ��223 14. HOFZINSER’S NEWSPAPER REVIEWS OF FAMOUS ARTISTS �� 225 14.1 REVIEWS OF VIRTUOSI, ACTORS AND FEMALE DANCERS �� 225 Niccolo Paganini �� 225 Johann Nestroy �� 227 Franz Liszt �� 228

About Dilettantes �� 228

Fanny Elsler �� 229

Monkey Theater �� 229

Gioacchino Rossini �� 231

Puppet Theater �� 232

14.2 NEWSPAPER REVIEWS OF MAGICIANS �� 232 Ludwig Döbler �� 232

Friedrich Ferd. Becker �� 234

Bartolomeo Bosco �� 234 Bartolomeo Bosco �� 236 Ludwig Döbler �� 236 Max Merman �� 238 F. Baron, Ludwig Döbler, Henri Robin �� 238 Bartolomeo Bosco �� 239 Compars Herrmann �� 239 Compars Herrmann �� 241 Wiljabal Frikell �� 243

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14.3 HOFZINSER’S LITERARY TALES �� 243 Village Scenes �� 244

15. FORTY-TWO LETTERS TO FRIENDS AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATES �� 245 15.1 THE TWELVE PRESERVED LETTERS (1847–1853) TO LONG-TIME FRIEND CARL VON POSPISCHIL �� 246 First Letter �� 246 Second Letter �� 248 Third Letter �� 250 Fourth Letter �� 253 Fifth Letter �� 258 Sixth Letter �� 260 Seventh Letter �� 265 Eighth Letter �� 270 Ninth Letter �� 273 Tenth Letter �� 276 Eleventh Letter �� 277 Twelfth Letter �� 278 15.2 LETTER TO FRANZ WALLNER, THEATER DIRECTOR IN BERLIN �� 279 15.3 Letter by Hofzinser to a Theater Director in Linz �� 280 15.4 THE TWENTY-EIGHT LETTERS OF HOFZINSER TO HIS FRIEND CARLO MARCHINI �� 281 First Letter �� 281 Second Letter �� 282 Third Letter �� 284 Fourth Letter �� 285 Fifth Letter �� 288 Sixth Letter �� 289 Seventh Letter �� 291 Eighth Letter �� 293 Ninth Letter �� 294 Tenth Letter �� 296 Eleventh Letter �� 298 Twelfth Letter �� 301 Thirteenth Letter �� 302 Fourteenth Letter �� 305 Fifteenth Letter �� 306

CONTENTS

Sixteenth Letter �� 307 Seventeenth Letter �� 308 Eighteenth Letter �� 309 Nineteenth Letter �� 310 Twentieth Letter �� 311 Twenty-first Letter �� 312 Twenty-second Letter �� 313 Twenty-third Letter �� 315 Twenty-fourth Letter �� 316 Twenty-fifth Letter �� 316 Twenty-sixth Letter �� 318 Twenty-seventh Letter �� 319 Twenty-eighth Letter �� 319

16. TWO LETTERS TO HOFZINSER �� 321 16.1 Letter from Carl von Pospischil �� 321 16.2 Letter from Otto Prechtler to the editor of the Wiener Zeitung �� 324

17. HOFZINSER’S VARIOUS PROGRAMS �� 325 18. HOFZINSER IN THE PUBLIC RECORD BEFORE 1910 �� 355 18.1 HOFZINSER IN GENERAL LITERATURE �� 355 18.2 HOFZINSER IN THE LITERATURE OF MAGIC �� 356 18.3 HOFZINSER’S TRICKS IN MAGIC DEALERS’ CATALOGS �� 358

19. THE BEST-KNOWN MAGIC DEALERS OF THE TIME �� 363 20. HOFZINSER’S RESIDENCES �� 365 21. A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY �� 367 22. THE HOFZINSER FAMILY TREE �� 371 23. RESEARCH SOURCES �� 379 23.1 McMANUS COLLECTION, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C. �� 379 23.2 VOLKER HUBER COLLECTION, OFFENBACH �� 379 23.3. PETER SCHUSTER COLLECTION, BERLIN �� 380 23.4 MAGIC CHRISTIAN COLLECTION, VIENNA �� 380 23.5 DAVID COPPERFIELD COLLECTION, LAS VEGAS �� 380 23.6 HEINZ LURZ COLLECTION, MUNICH �� 380

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23.7 MAGIC LITERATURE FROM 1812–1925, INCLUDING WORKS CONTAINING ACCOUNTS OF HOFZINSER’S TRICKS ��381 23.8 NON-MAGIC LITERARY SOURCES ��382 23.9 LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES ��383 23.10 PARISHES ��384 23.11 PARTICULAR THANKS ��384

24. INDEX OF NAMES ��386 25. LIST OF IMAGES ��388 26. IMAGE SOURCES �� 391

INTRODUCTION FOR THE PROFESSION

1. INTRODUCTION FOR THE PROFESSION After ninety years of entrenched knowledge, it is no easy task to shake and overturn facts that have been spread as seeming gospel in countless articles, periodicals, books and other publications. Given this state of affairs, I hope the reader will forgive me the many citations in the following chapters and the notes necessary to support my revision of this history.

1.1 GENERAL Hofzinser was a man who, in his time, did not have any great card conjurers to follow as role models, like his successors did around the turn of the twentieth century; such figures as the mysterious S. W. Erdnase,7 “The Professor” Dai Vernon, Nate Leipzig,8 Max Malini 9 or Chicagoan Edward Marlo10 (of whom it was said, with tongue in cheek, that he happily acted as if he had invented practically everything in card magic except the cards themselves). Hofzinser was a man who did not have an abundance of relevant literature to draw upon, but he was a visionary, far ahead of his time, who became and remains to this day a model for all parlor magicians who came after him, including today’s close-up performers. His significance to card magic in general, as well as to parlor magic in particular, is indisputable. While today there are discussions at FISM11 conventions on whether a category of “parlor magic” should be introduced in addition to the tabletop magic categories of close-up magic and card magic, this man knew over one hundred and fifty years ago where, with what and within what limits it was possible to impress an audience as a magician. All this has been known for a long time to those who are familiar with the relevant literature in the field. What is not known, however, is that much of this information is either inaccurate or only partly accurate. Through arbitrarily enhanced or even shortened accounts, a lack of in‑depth research, inaccurate transcription of documents and the desire of some authors to distinguish themselves, many articles appeared about this gifted magic philosopher that simply incorporated the mistakes of earlier ones. Everything written about Hofzinserby the admirable Ottokar Fischer was taken as the non plus ultra; an expression that, incidentally, Hofzinser took delight in using. Yet there is far more in the way of interesting facts, stories, a necdotes, pieces of magical artistry (as Hofzinser called them) and original manuscripts.

1.2 OTTOKAR FISCHER’S SOURCES By his own admission, Ottokar Fischer regrettably did not find much personal information about Hofzinser, and built his knowledge primarily on oral traditions handed down by scholars and Hofzinser’s circle of friends,

Fig. 3: Ottokar Fischer in his younger years

7 A famous card magician, whose origins are still the subject of much discussion among experts in the field. Under his name, the manual The Expert at the Card Table (originally titled Artifice, Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card Table) was published in 1902. This was the starting point for many books later written on card magic. 8 Nate Leipzig, magician from Detroit (1873– 1939), born Nathan Leipziger in Stockholm. 9 Max Malini, New York magician (1873–1942), born Max Katz Breit in Austria-Hungary. 10 Ed Marlo, born Edward Malkowski (* October 10,1913 – † November 7, 1991). 11

Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques (International Federation of Magic Societies), which every three years organizes the only world congress on magic.

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Alexander Patuzzi was a minor and not particularly appreciated writer of his day (see section 11.2, p. 170).

By his own statement, Heubeck’s successor.

According to newspaper articles, also a student of Hofzinser, performing under the name St(efan) Roman, privately also known as Samuel Thiersfeld. 15 The lithographer Friedrich Berndt had a son, also named Friedrich Berndt, a magician. Until now, they were believed to be the same person. 16

Willibald Lukesch was the chief official of the Austrian Savings Bank and owned, according to a report in Die Zauberwelt, a manuscript bequest from Hofzinser. See Die Zauberwelt, vol. 7, no. 2 (1901).

17 The journal Die Zauberwelt began publication in 1895. In vol. 7, 1901 (edited by Carl Willmann and published by Julius Sussmann, Hamburg, Germany), it carried detailed accounts of J. N. Hofzinser and many descriptions of his tricks. 18 A member of the staff of Die Zauberwelt, vol. 1 (1895). 19 This letter can be found, along with other documents from O. Fischer and Hofzinser, in the David Copperfield collection in Las Vegas. 20

F. W. Conradi, author of many magic books and owner of a large magic-apparatus company in Dresden (1892), and later, beginning in 1904, in Berlin.

21 Carl Willmann, a successful manufacturer of magic apparatus in Hamburg, beginning in 1872. 22 Full title: Eine Stunde der Täuschung oder das Ganze der Zauberei mit der Hand. Nach den Vorträgen von Bosko, Döbler, Herr mann, Hofzinser und anderen berühmten Eskamoteuren, first edition 1865, published by Hartleben Verlag. The first three editions differ on several points. 23

Wilhelmine Klara Karoline Hofzinser, * June 5, 1860 – † June 24, 1932, in Alland (see family tree, p. 376).

In Kartenkünste, Ottokar Fischer states that the Hofzinser family originated in Swabia, but see the family tree, ibid.

See the speech by Otto Lux for the sixtieth anniversary of the passing of J. N. Hofzinser, March 11, 1935, signed by Ottokar Fischer (David Copperfield collection). 26

Otto Lux was a member of the board of the Magischen Klub Wien (Magic Club of Vienna) at that time.

27 See chapter 18, listing Austrian and German magic literature in which Hofzinser is mentioned; for example, Das Ganze der Salonmagie by Ruolf Marian, a well-known Viennese magician of the end of the nineteenth century. 28

See the catalogs of F. W. Conradi (Berlin), Carl Willmann (Hamburg), Klingl and Zauberkönig Georg Mayer (Vienna), among others.

supplemented by surviving correspondence. Variations are often found in oral traditions, these arising from the differing views of the people relating them, influenced by their personalities and natural forgetfulness. Fischer also obtained information from a booklet by Alexander Patuzzi12 (see section 11.3, p. 170) published in 1857, which is filled with Hofzinser’s personal experiences and includes a few newspaper articles. He drew as well on about forty letters from Hofzinser to his friends Carl von Pospischil and Carlo Marchini. Further sources included the notes of the magician Heubeck, a student of Hofzinser, and reports of magicians Carlo Arminio (alias Charles d’Arlion and, by birth, Karl Wawrinsky);13 St. Roman;14 Friedrich Berndt,15 a lithographer from Hofzinser’s day; and Rudolf Reithoffer, a mechanic who built magical apparatus for Professor Carl (Compars) Herrmann, a personal friend of Hofzinser, to use in his tricks. Fischer did not mention, however, that some documents had been in the possession of a man from Vienna named Willibald Lukesch,16 who had previously published them in the German magic magazine Die Zauberwelt17 in 1901. They had been edited for that purpose by Mr. Ed. W. Lufa.18 It was only in a letter dated February 20, 1910, to John Gumtz of Wausau, Wisconsin,19 that Fischer admitted that all the descriptions of Hofzinser’s tricks that had appeared up to that time in different publications, such as the books by Conradi,20 Carl Willmann’s21 magazine Die Zauberwelt, F. Gallien’s Eine Stunde der Täuschung (An Hour of Deception),22 etc., were not correct, but that altered methods had been given. He further claimed in this letter that until the publication of his own book, Kartenkünste, no one had known the proper presentation of these tricks, and that previous to his book the literature in English about Hofzinser was also incorrectly informed. Nor did Fischer mention other things; for instance, that his source for information on the origin of the Hofzinser family was J. N. Hofzinser’s greatniece, Wilhelmine Hofzinser.23 She allegedly told him that the family had come from Swabia, which cannot be correct, even for the maternal side.24 Another secret he kept was that he had received from Mr. W. Lukesch the twelve preserved letters from Hofzinser to Carl von Pospischil in order to study them, and that he had kept them after Lukesch’s death on March 2, ospischil. Pospischil 1918.25 Lukesch obtained them through a relative of P was a childhood friend of Hofzinser and, until 1854, head auditor at the Royal and Imperial Army, stationed in Galicia (see chapter 10.1, “Carl von Pospischil,” p. 163). Even though Otto Lux26 had described Mr. Lukesch, at the sixtieth anniversary celebration of Hofzinser’s death, as a friend of Fischer, the latter said not a word about him in his books Kartenkünste and Zauberkünste. The omission in Kartenkünste supposedly gave rise to deep differences of opinion between the two men. There are a number of mentions of Hofzinser’s tricks in German magic literature between 1850 and 1890.27 Again and again mentions of Hofzinser appear, not just in books, but also in many catalogs from Austrian and German magic dealers,28 and from 1868 on, in classified advertisements in newspapers (see chapter 18.3, “Hofzinser’s Tricks in Magic Dealers’ Catalogs,” p. 358).

INTRODUCTION FOR THE PROFESSION

Fig. 4: Title page of Die Zauberwelt

Fig. 5: Klingl catalog

In addition, abundant newspaper articles from that time interestingly and accurately describe Hofzinser’s program, his dress and performance style, his appearance and his manner. The articles were particularly numerous from 1857 to 1865, as the popularity of Hofzinser’s magic salon reached its height and he became extremely well known. In the magic magazine Zauberwelt,29 his date of birth was given as July 6, 1806. This, unfortunately, was as inaccurate as May 16, 1807, the date cited by Fischer shortly before his death. Fischer probably discovered this date in police conscription registration forms, or more likely service schedules, in various archives. Robelly inserted a little note to that effect in his 1949 book Le Livre d’Or.30 Although Richard Hatch wrote something about the family and Hofzinser’s father in the foreword to the English edition of Fischer’s Zauberkünste,31 he drew only on the facts recorded by Ottokar Fischer. Until now, nobody has done the research necessary to check these facts and verify the content of the documents. In the present book, only authentic sources from Hofzinser’s time will be used. Along with the forty-two personal letters that have been p reserved

1896, p. 145.

Robelly (Robert Rouet, 1894–1976), professional magician and author. His Le Livre d’Or is a Who’s Who of magicians. See Kurt Volkmann (1897–1958), Magie, no. 2 (1954), p. 38, “Geschichte der Zauberkunst, Hofzinser.” 31

Ottokar Fischer, The Magic of J. N. Hofzinser, translated by Richard Hatch (Omaha, NE: Walter B. Graham, 1985).

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and the rediscovered descriptions of tricks 32 that were enclosed in or added to these letters, there is a huge number of fascinating and informative notes in the literature of the time, replete with references to Hofzinser. I likewise discovered, as previously mentioned, several hundred hitherto unknown newspaper accounts from the Austrian and foreign press, as well as numerous advertisements for Hofzinser’s performances, that show this genius of the art of magic in a new light. I want to make it perfectly clear, though, that I highly value Ottokar Fischer’s work, for without Fischer, neither my investigation nor this book would have been undertaken. Well, back to the beginning!

1.3 A CHANCE MEETING—THE BEGINNING OF A LONG INVESTIGATION

32 Several descriptions of card tricks are in the possession of Volker Huber in Offenbach, many of general magic tricks are in the McManus collection in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and others are in the possession of Peter Schuster in Berlin. 33

Ludwig Döbler (1801–1864).

Anton Kratky-Baschik (1810 –1889).

According to Ottokar Fischer, J. N. H ofzinser was a university-educated Doctor of Philosophy and a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Finance. 36 Ottokar Fischer knew of yet another proposed birthdate, May 16, 1806, which is as erroneous as the date of July 19, 1806, that he accepted in his notes and first published in Kartenkünste in 1910. See the David Copperfield collection. 37 As already stated, Robelly’s book, Le Livre d’Or, also mentions the May 16 date, which, today, is the feast day of Hofzinser’s patron saint, St. Johann Nepomuk. People in Hofzinser’s time were often named after the saint on whose feast day they were born, but at the beginning of the nineteenth century the feast day was not celebrated.

At a press conference held in the course of the 1991 Merlinale magic convention in Vienna, along with brief presentations on Ludwig Döbler33 and Kratky-Baschik,34 I said a few words in recognition of Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser as a famous representative of the Viennese school of magic. More was brought out, after the press conference, in a discussion with Dr. Hubert Braunsberger, a journalist greatly interested in the topic. He wanted to write an article about Hofzinser for the journal of the Austrian Ministry of Finance. I put together some information for him from the documents in my library, and at that time I thought nothing of the many incongruities and small lapses of logic in them. In jest, I asked him to search the archives of the Austrian Ministry of Finance to see if there was still a personnel file on Hofzinser.35 I was dumbfounded when, a few days later, this journalist, interested not only in history but in magic as well, showed up with some written notes that immediately piqued my interest. There was not just one personnel file, but several, along with a few service and salary records, and both a pension payment request from Hofzinser in 1865 and another from his widow in 1875. Through this coincidence, a whole new world opened to me, one that suddenly bathed this worthy dean of the magical arts in a completely new light. Many things about his life that, until then, had seemed inexplicable to us acquired clear contours and ever greater dimensions. Others came to life more vividly than before and started blooming anew. Many details totally contradicted those reported and published previously. When I read the first lines of this file, I immediately found a date of birth that differed from the one generally believed correct at that time. The date of birth appears in the service records not as July 19, 1806, as Fischer had it in Kartenkünste, but most frequently as May 16, 1807;36 and since this new date was repeated several times throughout the newly found file, there seemed no doubt it had to be the proper one.37 However, all these previously given birth dates were, as I now know, off by quite a bit. From then on, I went from one archive to another, to rectories, libraries and universities whose names I had until then only known through hearsay. I was kindly given support everywhere, directed to other places and

THE HOFZINSER FAMILY

Neapel, and at number 1160 (later 1094, today Graben 8) was Leopold Hofzinser’s shop, named Zum schwarzen Adler (At the Black Eagle).47 This is also where the crib of our ingenious card-magician rested, although he was born and baptized in another place altogether (see p. 31).

2.2 J. N. HOFZINSER’S PARENTS Leopold-Adalbert Hofzinser was born on January 25, 1766, fourth of the above-mentioned thirteen children.48 In 1796, he bought the shop at Graben 8 from a Mr. F. Thomas Zünd for 4500 guilders. He probably had already taken over shares from Messrs. H. Mathias and J. Zöchmeister in 1795.49 He was then twenty-nine years old. Three years later, on April 24, 1798, he married Maria Theresia Magdalena, the daughter of the Royal and Imperial Wardrobe Master and Tailor, Ignaz Fechtspil(l)er. Four sons came from this marriage: Leopold-Franz Xaver Fidelis,50 Franz-Xaver Fidelis Anton,51 Karl-Josef 52 and Johann-Nepomuk Fidelis53 who, according to the existing 1815 transcript of his baptismal certificate, was born on June 19, 1806. The transcript originated in the Landstrasse parish in what is today the Third Precinct of Vienna, but which at that time was still a suburb of the city. The oft-repeated date of May 16 is, in fact, only the feast day of the child’s patron saint. On the 1824 registration sheet for house 892/door 8, the correct and official date of birth is noted as an addition, since he by that time had begun working as a trainee in the Tobacco and Customs administration and had probably just been exempted from direct military service. The reason for his exemption was also given: “slight goiter and weak chest!” (This entry could explain the later criticisms of Hofzinser’s rather soft voice, which could not fill a theater, and why he preferred smaller salons and halls to large theaters for his performances.) His uncle Franz-Serafin Hofzinser, of the Zur weissen Taube shop, did not marry and remained childless. Thus he was not, as Ottokar Fischer wrote, the father of J. N. H., and was also not named Franz-Xaver. Rather, according to an article in the Wiener Zeitung of November 16, 1808, he committed suicide on November 11, 1808, in the Vienna moat:

Mr. Franz Hofzinser, civic businessman registered in the files of the city, age 45, living in the suburb of Alsergrund 177, jumped over the city bastion to his death in the moat.54 55

In 1817, the father, Leopold-Adalbert, died of gangrene and bequeathed to his wife and each of four sons more than 6,000 guilders worth of shares in the business.56

47 Ottokar Fischer found some records about the shops in the business registers of that time, as well as in church registers in downtown Vienna. Mr. Otto Lux’s remarks on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the death of J. N. Hofzinser explain Fischer’s fatally erroneous conclusions (see Fischer’s book Kartenkünste). This speech is in the David Copperfield collection. 48 The church registers provide proof for the existence of at least eight daughters and five sons. 49 These business files can be examined in the Wiener Stadtarchiv under reference numbers H 85/3H, H 204 and H 119, 885j. They are extensive and bear each company’s attractive seal. 50 Leopold-Franz Xaver Fidelis, February 4, 1799–c. 1859 (exact date still unknown). 51 Franz-Xaver Fidelis Anton, October 5, 1801– post 1848 (exact date unknown). 52

Karl-Josef, July 23, 1803–February 28, 1876.

Johann-Nepomuk Fidelis, June 19, 1806 – March 11, 1875. 54 The auction of his estate took place on December 19 and 20, 1808; it seems that Franz Hofzinser had been in financial difficulties. The items auctioned include, aside from his household effects and a four-wheeled and a two-wheeled carriage, over four hundred pails (sic) of the best “Gebürgswein” (mountain wine). 55 The death register of St. Augustin parish, Vol. VI, Folio 12, † March 28, 1817; also the register of the Traiskirchen parish. 56

The will of Leopold Adalbert Hofzinser can be seen in the Wiener Stadtarchiv.

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Baptismal Certificate I, the undersigned, attest that a legitimate son was born to Herr Leopold Hofzinser, a merchant of the city, and his wife, Theresia, [née] Fechspieler, at Landstrasse 39 during the time of their marriage, who was baptized on the nineteenth of June of the year one thousand eight hundred and six /:June 19, [1]806:/ by the Reverend Father Onitian, assistant pastor, in the presence of Herr Johann Schlemberg [illegible word] as godfather, according to the Christian Catholic custom, at which he was given the name Johann Nepomuk. In witness whereof, this copy signed by me and the parish seal Vienna, May 22, [1]815 Ferdinand Göss, Pastor on the Landstrasse and below Weisgärb 57 Fig. 8: J. N. Hofzinser’s baptismal record

57 Since the publication of the German edition of this work, further research has made it possible to clarify several details in this difficult-to-read document, resulting in the corrected text given here. 58 According to the spa registers in the Rollet-Museum in Baden. 59 The files of the guardianship court are available in the Wiener Stadtarchiv. 60 The corresponding business files are also available in the Wiener Stadtarchiv.

The value of the guilder cannot be easily calculated, since the way goods are valued has changed a great deal today. According to the price index calculations of the Austrian Central Statistics Bureau, one guilder in 1840 had the buying power of 187.40 Austrian schillings (about $17.00 U.S.) in 1994, but one guilder in 1860 had only the buying power of 120.90 Austrian schillings (about $11.00 U.S.). After the 1848 revolution, when prices rose, one kg. of beef (2.2 lbs.), for instance, cost around 0.35 guilders. It can be documented that from 1814 on, Leopold Hofzinser and his family often spent their summer vacation in Baden near Vienna.58 For respectable families, a summer holiday in that elegant spa was a social “must.” Even during the year following her husband’s death, his widow Theresia went back to the Baden resort. The addresses and dates of arrival and departure can be verified in the spa registers for these years.

2.3 THE THREE BROTHERS OF J. N. HOFZINSER Until 1820, the children had, in addition to their mother, a guardian, Mr. Ignaz Steinmetz.59 The widow, Theresia Hofzinser, kept running the store, which prospered nicely, until 1836. It was then transferred to two of her sons, Karl and Leopold.60 According to the Allgemeine Theaterzeitung, one of the most important newspapers in Vienna at the time, the brothers imported more and more French fashion items. On November 18, 1837, one could read:

JOHANN NEPOMUK FIDELIS HOFZINSER

These passages are mentioned only to show that Hofzinser was not an inconsequential critic of his time; his word had weight. The suspicion that critics are at heart only would-be artists was also applied to Hofzinser; otherwise, the public statement that appeared in early December 1840 in the Allgemeine Theaterzeitung would be unthinkable:

Declaration: To counter several rumors, I feel compelled to state categorically that I never tried my hand in the field of local, comic plays, nor will I; hence no farce of mine can ever be put on the bill by theater management, either here or abroad. Signed:

Joh. Nep. Hofzinser,

Registrant at the k.k. Court, Member of the k.k. Agricultural Association in Vienna, and Correspondent of the Association of Applied Horticulture in the Kingdom of Bavaria. The question as to whether Hofzinser was also in France is clarified by a poem addressed to Hector Berlioz130 in the January 5, 1846, edition of Der Wanderer:

In France’s capital I greeted you, There I first learned to admire and love you. And here, where you are the most celebrated one, In mighty Vienna, I have remained faithful to you. The beautiful blue Danube will soon carry you To the wonderland of the fiery Magyars, May you, when the “Eljen!”131 resounds in jubilation for you there, Also keep your friendship for the Hungarians. The best, indeed, gladly approached you And greeted without envy the foreign master As a master, keep creating lustily forever and ever! The spirits of words and notes are your servants. And should pale envy dart its tongue at you: May it never hinder your progress. “He who has done enough for the best of his time, Has indeed—my friend!—lived for all times.” Oh, follow always your genius! So great and so bold!—so praiseworthy and shattering! Sing to us of first love, of first kiss!— Of wild passion, a storm unleashed. Sing to us the joy of the carnival! Sing of wine! Like Tyrtaeus,132 let songs of freedom ring out! Sing to us of slaughters, where in bloody rounds Heroes fall for their dear Fatherland. H.........*)133

130

Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), famous French composer.

131

Hungarian for “Long may he live!”

132

Tyrtaeus, c. 684 B.C.E., author of political and martial elegies.

133

The author of the poem is given in the editor’s endnote. Hofzinser would often use H., Hfz., H-r, J. and N. H., as well as his full name under his reviews.

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Whether Hofzinser met the then already renowned French magician Robert-Houdin during his trip to Paris in the early 1840s has not yet been established. He did, however, in later years have frequent contact with Parisian magic dealers.

3.5 HOFZINSER, THE ROMANTIC LITERARY FIGURE Hofzinser’s first, known published poem appeared on May 27, 1828, in the Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Musik und Theater.134 Written in the romantic cadences of the time, it was dedicated to the artist Fanny Sallamon:

In tender youth you dared, To wander to the blissful land of sound; Yet, since genius is housed in your soul We saw the highest art arise in you. You have accomplished the most beautiful, the most splendid things Through your own merit, brought to you; Through art, united with the power of feeling, You have won for yourself the palm of victory! As the soul glows through the chord, As your spirit lives in your notes, Thus they magically penetrate the feeling heart That joyfully rises upward, joined with them. Euterpe135 hears the sweet miracle of your playing, And, delighted by the magical bliss, Crowns you for the goal achieved early on With the consummation of the sublime master crown! A poem of praise dedicated to the Emperor Francis I also appeared in 1828, in the Allgemeine Theaterzeitung of October 7, to honor “the name day of the beloved, revered father of our country.” This and other poems by Hofzinser, full of the romantic sentiment of his day, can be found in chapter 12 (“Hofzinser’s Poetry,” p. 209). On December 31, 1839, he wrote the following equally romantic verses for his cousin and friend in magic, the highly successful magician Ludwig Döbler, specifically for the trick of making flower bouquets appear:

134

Wiener Theatermuseum (Theater Museum of Vienna).

135

The Muse of music.

When you call flowers forth, to scatter them around in a circle, Your art only chose them Because they are images of love, Which, faithful and always blooming For your German Fatherland, You nourish in your German breast. If in your magical hand

THE FAMOUS SALON HOFZINSER

Fig. 56: An example of the popularity enjoyed by Hofzinser’s title “Hours of Deception,” from Figaro, January 3, 1858

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met him in Vienna in the mid-1840s and corresponded regularly with him (see chapter 15.2). More undiscovered letters from Hofzinser may still turn up in Wallner’s papers in Berlin or elsewhere. The Preussische Staatszeitung published the following article on December 4, 1867:

Fig. 93: Ad in the Fremdenblatt, April 5, 1868

290

Johann Christian Wiegleb (1732–1800) actually authored this book, Unterricht in der natürlichen Magie, oder zu allerhand belustigenden und nüzlichen Kunststücken (Berlin: F. Nicolai, 1779–1805) along with Johann Nikolaus Martius and Gottfried Erich Rosenthal.

291

The performance of magic tricks in short sleeves or in shirtsleeves and slacks is not a twentieth-century invention!

118

Herr Dr. Hofzinser, professor of experimental physics and court artist from Vienna, yesterday gave his first guest performance “in higher magic.” Ever since Wiegleb, the apothecary from Langensalz, inaugurated a generally accessible professorship for learning conjuring and physical tricks in the twenty well-known volumes of his Natural Magic,290 much progress has been made in these areas, thanks to the new natural science. At the time of Bosco, who also performed earlier in Berlin, he produced his thousand artifices at first in short sleeves,291 and then with bare arms, generating even more astonishment when the so-called “magician” plants a seed and a few minutes later pulls a bouquet from it, when he shoots a finger ring from a pistol and then finds it in the possession of a spectator, when he grinds a watch in a mortar, only to display it on the roots of a plant, and other similar illusions. Döbler—who exchanged Bosco’s sleeveless costume for a close-fitting jacket—had already put new inventions to use and surprised us in his imaginative use of dissolving views, light effects and similar physical effects. The latter would actually be more fitting in a stage setting than Kunststücke with cards, where much is lost for the spectator sitting at a distance, and the more finesse and elegance there is in their execution, the truer this is. This was the case yesterday with Hofzinser: His execution of the card tricks shows astonishing dexterity, and everything he produces in this profession he does with such skill and finesse that it leaves ordinary conjurers far behind. And yet, such productions with cards are visibly better suited to the smaller circle of a salon than to theater halls. In contrast are such experiments as, for example, the trick with the white and red roses in a mirror with its clever commentary; the apparently magnetic balancing of a stick, in which it really seemed to sway and hang freely in midair. These belong to the excellent experiments of the genre, as does the closing piece: “The German Poets,” in which the verse, stanza and page of a poem by Uhland, chosen according to instructions from several spectators, were correctly revealed in a surprising manner inside several sealed envelopes. The audience was more and more delighted with the striking pieces of Herr Hofzinser, so much so that they called him back several times and applauded him with the greatest enthusiasm. Nevertheless, for further appearances in the theater, the guest is advised to choose productions that are more suited to reaching a larger, mixed audience. And once again, we see clearly recognized here the major weak point in Hofzinser’s work: His tricks were often too small for large theater halls.

HOFZINSER’S TRAVELS

Interestingly, his student Heubeck performed at the same time at the Woltersdorffer Theater. This was not the first occasion that both performed in the same city at the same time (the reader will remember a similar circumstance in St. Pölten). Newspaper reports did not reveal if they also traveled to Berlin together. Later in December, Heubeck appeared together with Agoston292 at the Rappo Theater. On January 8, 1868, Der Wanderer reported on a performance by Hofzinser in Vienna at the Society Hillaria. As of yet, no further information has been found about performances by Hofzinser during this period, until late March 1868. He must have returned to Vienna, because, in a letter dated March 25 to the k.k. Österreichische Fig. 94: Entry in the government council file authorizing the performances of April 1868

292

Gustav Agoston–August Böhm (1826–1897) was from Hungary.

119

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Fig. 141: Letter from Friedrich Berndt (in the Vienna Library)

162

HOFZINSER’S MAGICIAN FRIENDS

10. HOFZINSER’S MAGICIAN FRIENDS Hofzinser and Carl von Pospischil had maintained a deep friendship since 1828, as well as a lively correspondence. The salesman Carlo Marchini was also a friend. And both, as has been mentioned earlier, were his students as well. There were also probably letters, perhaps yet to be found, from Hofzinser to his colleagues in magic, Carl Compars Herrmann and Ludwig Bergheer. Much, though, seems to have been lost during the past hundred years. Hofzinser seems to have been well informed about all the important European magicians of his time and to have been in active contact with dealers of magical apparatus 357 all over Europe. He may have sold original tricks during his lifetime to the dealers Jean Kieling or Michael Klingl in Vienna (see chapter 19, “The Most Famous Magic Dealers of the Time”).

10.1 CARL VON POSPISCHIL Hofzinser’s childhood friend Carl von Pospischil was born on January 28, 1804, in Skotschau, district of Teschen (today situated partly in the Czech republic and Poland). He was the son of the archducal Chamber Procurator Aloys Pospischil and Franziska Pospischil, née Wagner.358 According to those documents that have been preserved, Carl was a magistrate trainee from 1825 to 1831, and subsequently served as Regimental Magistrate359 with the Chevaux Legers no. 1—Franz Josef, the same regiment in which Hofzinser’s brother Franz Xaver served. On June 28, 1835, he was named Cavalry Captain, and on August 31, 1840, in Skotschau, he married Miss Caroline Preschnowsky from Vienna. In 1849, he was transferred to the staff of the military home for the disabled in Padua, was named Major-Magistrate in 1851, moved the same year to Herrmannstadt (now in Romania), then in 1853 joined the military command in Lemberg (now in Ukraine)360 and from 1854 to 1860 worked as director of the Committee Court in Leutschau/Levoca. Finally, he seems to have switched over to the civilian judiciary and been president of the District Court in Teschen. An extensive correspondence with Johann N. Hofzinser is extant from 1848 to 1853. Carl von Pospischil continues to appear in the organization chart of the civil service until 1866. There were no existing records known concerning his retirement and death when the German edition of this book appeared. Research during the past few years has subsequently revealed that Pospischil became president of the District Court in Teschen in 1874 and retired from his job in 1878. From 1878 to 1880 he appears in the civil service organization charts for those years as head of the real-estate register, first in Wisowitz, and then in Prerau, both today in the Czech republic. It is likely that he assumed this job to supplement his pension. His name does not appear in the organization’s charts for the year 1881 and afterward, suggesting he may have died in 1881 or shortly before the chart for that year was printed.

357

These merchants differed from their modern counterparts in that they sold other goods in addition to magical apparatus: magic lanterns, perfumes, boxes, stationery, etc.

358

As recorded in the Österreichisches Staats archiv (Austrian State Archive), the Hungarian Magyar Országos Levéltár and the Slovakian archive Stany Oblastny in Levoci.

359

Judge in the military division.

360

Both places belonged to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

163

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Hofzinser was in the Teschen area and in Lemberg in 1866–67 and may have visited his friend there. Fig. 142: Carl von Pospischil Listed under Pospischil in the catalog of the lithographer Prinzhofer, but without a first name. It was done the same year (1846) as the portrait of Hofzinser. The signature is similar to the handwriting found in Carl von Pospischil’s documents. In the Allgemeine Theaterzeitung, dated October 14, 1846, Hofzinser writes in a small report: “The well-known dilettante playing the Physharmonica, Herr Pospischil, was portrayed by Prinzhofer, too, and was really surprised by the resemblance...”

10.2 CARLO MARCHINI

361

See “La Biblioteca” no. 3.2 in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

362

Many persons of means created a small exhibition room, called a physical cabinet, in their homes. In these they displayed unusual mechanical apparatus—automata, astronomical devices, small steam engines, etc.—for their personal pleasure and to demonstrate their modernity to acquaintances.

363

We know of twenty-eight letters, composed between 1871 and 1874.

164

Hofzinser met this merchant from Trieste in 1871, at a performance Hofzinser gave in this former Austrian port city. Marchini dealt in citrus and other tropical fruits, as testified to by a rubber-stamp mark in his copy of Hofzinser’s masterpiece, the “Library.”361 He also possessed a physical cabinet 362 in Trieste that Hofzinser greatly admired. The lively correspondence363 between the two, which lapsed just shortly before Hofzinser’s death, has been very informative about those last few years (see chapter 15.3), particularly in the exact descriptions of several tricks. Hofzinser begged Marchini to devote himself more to

HOFZINSER’S MAGICIAN FRIENDS

sleight-of‑hand, and always advised him to remain faithful to the correct execution of his (Hofzinser’s) inventions. Hofzinser produced innovations to the very end, and Marchini tried to acquire all of them, becoming, it appears, one of his best customers. At the time the German edition of this book was published, not much more was known about Carlo Marchini. Subsequent research in Trieste, with the help of Dr. Dario Padovan, revealed new information: Carlo Gustavo Marchini was born on July 24, 1841, and died on October 24, 1904. He was married to Fanny Bon(n) (born in 1848, date unknown, died December 5, 1920). The couple had nine children. The family tomb still exists and its maintenance is being overseen by Mr. Padovan. Some relatives of the family are still living. One of these, a great-granddaughter, Margit, resides near Vienna with her son (a surprising discovery made during my research). She generously provided the family photo below. Fig. 143: The Marchini family, with Carlo Marchini standing on the far right

10.3 COMPARS (CARL) HERRMANN “Herrmann must remain original; only by being himself is he great and unsurpassable; he has no talent for imitation,” was Hofzinser’s judgment in a letter to Carlo Marchini,364 about his friend and colleague Herrmann, who nevertheless, with his commercial talent, made millions with his magic. Herrmann was born on January 23, 1816, presumably in Hanover, although some reports put his place of birth at the border between Galicia and Russia. He grew up in Paris and, as a young man, soon found his way to magic. He worked very early on as an assistant to his father, ann. While his much younger brother Alexander conSamuel H. Herrm centrated more on large-scale illusions, Compars’s preference was for sleight-of-hand and magic that avoided large apparatus.

364

Letter no. 19.

165

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The boomerang card was his favorite effect. He also skillfully scaled cards—often printed with a picture of him—up to the topmost galleries. He had a close friendship with Hofzinser, who invented a series of tricks for him. Herrmann occasionally adopted some of Hofzinser’s tricks, but could never perform them as wonderfully as his friend did. Hofzinser wrote of that in letter 11 to his friend Marchini:

Hermann [sic] has certainly taken the easy way out—those are not card miracles—they are nothing—and had he not had my gimmicks for them—then they would have been absolutely nothing! Besides, Hermann is not capable of performing anything complicated. Hofzinser recorded a further criticism of his friend in no. 7 of the existing letters:

Fig. 144: A young Compars Herrmann (from the Magic Christian collection)

166

MAGIC CHRISTIAN

JOHANN NEPOMUK HOFZINSER 1806–1875

Non Plus Ultra HOFZINSER’S CARD ARTISTRY

Volume II Hofzinser’s Legendary Card Magic, His Techniques of Presentation. Manipulation and Other Refinements Updated and expanded

Translated from the German by Dave Shepherd

H ermetic Press, Inc. Conjuring Arts Research Center

CONTENTS

FOREWORD �� 11 1. INTRODUCTION �� 13 1.1 HOFZINSER, THE MAN, AND THE HOFZINSER SALON �� 16 1.2

ON HOFZINSER’S CARD MAGIC �� 20

1.3

ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE TRICKS �� 20

1.4 CARD TECHNIQUES USED BY HOFZINSER �� 23 1.5

HIS THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES �� 25

1.6

HOFZINSER’S PLAYING CARDS �� 29

2. HOFZINSER’S CARD TECHNIQUE �� 33 2.1 THE HOFZINSER PASS (THE HERRMANN PASS) �� 33 2.2 THE HALF PASS �� 36 2.3 HOFZINSER’S TOP CHANGE �� 38 2.4 THE HOFZINSER BOTTOM CHANGE �� 41 2.5 THE PACKET TOP CHANGE �� 44 2.6 HOFZINSER’S BOTTOM PALM �� 46 2.7 THE HOFZINSER CARD CONTROL �� 48 2.8 THE UNDER-THE-SPREAD FORCE—“TOUCHÉ” �� 50 2.9 THE CLASSIC FORCE, SHOWING THE BACKS

OF THE CARDS, WITH THE GAZE �� 53

2.10 THE GLANCE FORCE, SHOWING THE FACES

OF THE CARDS �� 55

2.11 THE DEALING FORCE, USING THE GAZE �� 57 2.12 THE “ON-TOP” SHUFFLE �� 58 2.13 THE TWO-CARD FLOURISH TOSS �� 60

3. GIMMICKS AND GAFFED CARDS �� 65 3.1

DOUBLE-FACED CARDS �� 65

3.2 DIVIDED CARDS �� 69 3.3 TRANSPARENT CARDS �� 71 3.4 DOUBLE-BACKED CARDS �� 74 3.5 THE SEWN DECK (OR ELECTRIC DECK) �� 75 3.6 HOFZINSER’S FLAP CARD (TORN-CORNER CARD) �� 80 3.7

THE CARD BOX �� 82

3.8 THE SORTING CASE (CARD INDEX) �� 88 3.9

THE METAL TRAY AS A CARD INDEX �� 91

3.10 THE LEAPING-CARD MECHANISM �� 94 3.11 HOFZINSER’S CARD PURSE �� 95 3.12 THE ROUGH-AND-SMOOTH PRINCIPLE NOT H OFZINSER’S �� 97

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4. CARD TRICKS WITHOUT TRICK CARDS �� 99 4.1 THE ELEVENTH CARD, OR THOUGHT ASSOCIATION �� 99 4.2 EQUAL THOUGHTS �� 105 4.3 THE THOUGHT, OR IDEA ASSOCIATION �� 109 4.4 THE FOUR ACES �� 111 4.5 THE FOUR EIGHTS �� 117 4.6 THE CARD TRANSFORMED IN FLIGHT �� 123 4.7 THE SYMPATHETIC NUMBERS �� 127 4.8 THE SYMPATHETIC CARD NUMBERS �� 130

5. CARD TRICKS WITH PREPARED CARDS �� 133 5.1 THE OMNIPOTENCE OF WOMEN �� 133 5.2 THE POWER OF FAITH �� 144 5.3 THE FOUR KINGS �� 154 5.4 EVERYWHERE AND NOWHERE �� 162 5.5 EVERYWHERE AND NOWHERE, WITH EXPANDED ENDING � 172 5.6 WARNING AGAINST GAMES OF CHANCE �� 181 5.7 THINK AND FORGET �� 183 5.8 COEUR MARIAGE �� 191 5.9 THE FEELING, OR THE CHANGE OF THOUGHT �� 199 5.10 THE ACE OF HEARTS—THE LONELY CARD �� 205 5.11 THE QUEEN OF HEARTS �� 210 5.12 THREE THOUGHTS �� 215

6. CARD TRICKS WITH STACKED OR PREPARED DECKS �� 219 6.1 THREE IS ONE, OR COUNT CARDS DIFFERENTLY �� 219 6.2 THE WONDERFUL DECK �� 224 6.3 THE THOUGHTS, OR THE THOUGHT �� 231 6.4 THE FORCED THOUGHT—FIRST VERSION �� 237 6.5 THE FORCED THOUGHT—SECOND VERSION �� 244 6.6 LA PENSÉE FORCÉE QUAND MÊME �� 248

7. CARD TRICKS IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER OBJECTS �� 257 7.1

THE FLYING THOUGHT �� 257

7.2

THE PICTURE OF SAPHIR, OR WINTER AND SUMMER �� 259

7.3

THE THREE POWERS—WINTER AND SUMMER �� 264

7.4

THE CARD MIRROR �� 281

7.5

THE IMPROVED CARD MIRROR �� 284

7.6

THE VANISHED KING �� 287

7.7 THE INSOLUBLE IMPROMPTU �� 290

CONTENTS

7.8 THE LITTLE ROSE POT �� 295 7.9 THE CARD AUTOMATON �� 298 7.10 THE CARD CASE, OR THE LONELY CARD �� 302 7.11 THE RISING CARD, OR THE MAGNETIZED CARDS �� 305 7.12 THE CARD STAR �� 309 7.13 THE CARD SWORD �� 312

8. THE CARD ÉTUDES �� 317 8.1 THE SEWN DECK �� 317 8.2 DIMINISHING CARDS �� 324 8.3 THE GROWING CARDS �� 328 8.4 THE MAGNETIC CARDS �� 331 8.5 THE CARD BRIDGE �� 336 8.6 THE OBEDIENT OR FLYING CARD �� 338

9. TITLES OF CARD TRICKS FROM HOFZINSER’S PROGRAMS THAT LACK EXISTING MANUSCRIPTS �� 341 9.1 ORIGINAL THEME WITH VARIATIONS �� 341 9.2 ÉTUDE D’ART BRILLANT �� 342 9.3 MAGIC IN THE FORM OF POETRY �� 342 9.4 THE MEMORY �� 343 9.5 THE MAGNETIC CARD—SECOND VERSION �� 345 9.6 CHANGEMENTS �� 346 9.7 EQUAL RIGHTS �� 348 9.8 THE ORACLE OF THE TURKISH WOMEN IN THE HAREM IN THE 9.9. THE OFFICE MANAGER AND THE INTERN �� 354 9.10 THE INVISIBLE PASS �� 355

10. TRICKS ALLEGED BY OTTOKAR FISCHER TO BE HOFZINSER’S, AND THEIR SOLUTIONS �� 357 10.1 SUIT SELECTION �� 358 10.2 THE TRANSFORMED ACES �� 361 10.3 THE CIGAR CASE �� 367 10.4 THE MYSTERIOUS KING OF SPADES �� 368 10.5 THE FIVE TRANSFORMED CARDS �� 371 10.6 CARTE BLANCHE �� 373 10.7 THE MAGIC FINGER RING �� 375 10.8 THE STRANGE MATCH �� 379 10.9 CARD AND BANKNOTE �� 382 10.10 CARD AND HANDKERCHIEF �� 383 10.11 CARD AND CLOCK �� 387

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10.12 THE MAGICAL SEPARATION ��390 10.13 THE FLOWER MYSTERY ��393 10.14 CARD THROWING ��395 10.15 RÜBEZAHL ��398 10.16 THE CALLING CARD ��400 10.17 THE LANSQUENETS’ GAME ��403 10.18 THE MYSTERIOUS CARD ��404

11. CARD TRICKS ATTRIBUTED TO HOFZINSER THAT NEITHER APPEARED IN HIS MANUSCRIPTS OR PROGRAMS, NOR WERE DISCUSSED BY O TTOKAR FISCHER ��407 11.1 PROFESSOR HOFZINSER’S SECRET ��407 11.2 PROF. HOFZINSER’S LAST THOUGHT ��408 11.3 HOFZINSER’S DIVINATION OF THREE SELECTED CARDS ��409 11.4 THE “HOFZINSER” FIVE-WAY TRANSFORMING CARD ��412 11.5 MYSTERIES OF A CARD ACCORDING TO DR. HOFZINSER ��413 11.6 HOFZINSER’S FOUR-ACE TRICK ��414

12. A COLLECTION OF WITTICISMS BY HOFZINSER REGARDING HIS CARD TRICKS ��415 13. HOFZINSER’S TRICKS IN THE LITERATURE BEFORE 1910 AND THROUGH 1942 ��419 13.1 R. P.: EIN SPIEL KARTEN ��419 13.2 J. N. PONSIN: NOUVELLE MAGIE BLANCHE DÉVOILÉE,

PHYSIQUE ET COURS COMPLET DE PRESTIDIGITATION ��419

13.3 CARLO NIZZINI: MAGIE IM SALON ��419 13.4 F. GALLIEN: EINE STUNDE DER TÄUSCHUNG

ODER DAS GANZE DER ZAUBEREI ��420

13.5 PROF. HOFFMANN (ANGELO LEWIS): MODERN MAGIC ��420 13.6 HERRMANN DAVINI: CATALOG ��420 13.7 KLINGL COMPANY: CATALOGS ��421 13.8 RUDOLF MARIAN: DAS GANZE DER SALONMAGIE ��422 13.9 RUDOLF MARIAN: DAS BUCH DER KARTENKÜNSTE ��423 13.10 CARL WILLMANN: DIE ZAUBERWELT ��423 13.11 F. W. CONRADI: DER ZAUBERSPIEGEL ��424 13.12 CARL WILLMANN COMPANY: CATALOGS ��424 13.13 F. W. CONRADI: DER MODERNE KARTENKÜNSTLER ��425 13.14 F. W. CONRADI AND EDUARD HENSEL:

DER VORTRAG DES ZAUBERERS ��425

CONTENTS

13.15 A. ROTERBERG: NEW ERA CARD TRICKS ��426 13.16 F. W. CONRADI: DER KARTENKÜNSTLER IM

XX. JAHRHUNDERT ��426

13.17 F. W. CONRADI: MAGISCHES ALLERLEI ��426 13.18 F. W. CONRADI: DÉMONSTRATIONS MYSTÉRIEUSES ��426 13.19 CONRADI-HORSTER: CATALOG ��427 13.20 F. W. CONRADI: DER TAUSENDKÜNSTLER—

IM REICHE DER WUNDER ��427

13.21 F. W. CONRADI: DER ZAUBERKÜNSTLER

AUF DER HÖHE DER KUNST ��427

13.22 GEORG MAYER: CATALOG “ZUM ZAUBERKÖNIG” ��427 13.23 HARRY HOUDINI: THE CONJURERS’

MONTHLY MAGAZINE ��428

13.24 T. NELSON DOWNS: THE ART OF MAGIC ��428 13.25 OTTOKAR FISCHER: J. N. HOFZINSER—KARTENKÜNSTE ��428 13.26 HENRY HATTON AND ADRIAN PLATE: MAGICIANS’

TRICKS: HOW THEY ARE DONE ��430

13.27 F. W. CONRADI: IM BANNE DES ZAUBERKREISES ��430 13.28 CARL WILLMANN: CATALOGS ��430 13.29 WILL GOLDSTON: MODERN CARD TRICKS

WITHOUT APPARATUS ��431

13.30 MAGIE: ZEITSCHRIFT DES MAGISCHEN ZIRKELS

VON DEUTSCHLAND ��431

13.31 F. W. CONRADI: WUNDER DER KARTENKUNST ��431 13.32 THE SPHINX ��432 13.33 KLINGL COMPANY: CATALOG ��432 13.34 OTTOKAR FISCHER: DAS WUNDERBUCH DER ZAUBERKUNST ��433 13.35 S. H. SHARPE: HOFZINSER’S CARD CONJURING ��434 13.36 OTTOKAR FISCHER: AUS 1 MACH 10 ��434 13.37 OTTOKAR FISCHER: J. N. HOFZINSER—ZAUBERKÜNSTE ��434 13.38 RICHARD HATCH: THE MAGIC OF J. N. HOFZINSER ��436

14. OVERVIEW OF EXTANT MANUSCRIPTS ON HOFZINSER FROM VARIOUS COLLECTIONS ��437 14.1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS COLLECTION,

WASHINGTON D.C. ��437

14.2 VOLKER HUBER COLLECTION, OFFENBACH, GERMANY ��442 14.3 LURZ FAMILY COLLECTION, MUNICH ��445 14.4 PETER SCHUSTER COLLECTION, BERLIN ��447

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14.5 DAVID COPPERFIELD COLLECTION, LAS VEGAS ��449 14.6 WIENER STADT- UND LANDESBIBLIOTHEK ��450 14.7 WIENER STADT- UND LANDESARCHIV ��450 14.8 MAGIC CHRISTIAN COLLECTION, VIENNA ��450 14.9 OTHER COLLECTIONS ��451

15. AFTERWORD ��455 16. LIST OF REFERENCED LITERATURE ��457 17. INDEX OF NAMES ��461 18. LIST OF IMAGES ��465 19. IMAGE SOURCES ��469

INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION Hofzinser always tried to give his routines the proper framework and to clothe them in an ingenious presentation. He was unusually modern for his time. All the essential achievements of his era, whether they were new inventions, new trends in fashion, developments in technology or political changes, found their way into his world of illusion. He never took on the mantle of a psychic, but instead always emphasized that he wanted to deceive his audience in an artful and pleasant manner. His flexibility and his ability to adapt to current events, combined with his wit and cleverness, enthralled his audiences again and again. He was thus able to sell “old” routines as “new.” The newspapers reported that he had raised magic to the level of an “elegant society game.”1 In almost all his routines there is a topical reference. The tricks were often newly adapted to local events and occasions. If the title of a piece no longer fit into the program because an event had passed, he sometimes re-worked it with another title and script, and introduced it into the program once again on another occasion. (In the subsequent pages see, for example, “Everywhere and Nowhere,” “Forced Thought,” and “Money Training.”) There are several variations of these tricks under different titles. There are also quite a few tricks from his earlier period about which he communicated in letters to his friends, but that did not appear in his later programs. If we track important events, fashion trends and newspaper articles of each period, and compare them with the tricks, we often find surprising connections between events of the day and the themes of the tricks. The title “Everywhere and Nowhere,” for example, comes from a headline in a column in Vienna’s Allgemeine Theaterzeitung. Hofzinser created a trick with a rose solely to honor the virtuoso pianist Rosa Kastner;2 the “Photography Trick,” in turn, was created for the celebrated opera singer Adeline Patti; 3 and the “Warning against Games of Chance,” related to the modern-day classic, “The Ambitious Card,” was based on a gambling incident of the day.4 When Hofzinser introduced into his program his version of “The Aerial Treasury,” under the title “Vision of a Madman,” in January 1857, he did it quite deliberately. At that time there was an incident involving a wealthy speculator at the Vienna Stock Exchange, who “created a sensation” (to use Hofzinser’s words) through his crazy stock sales and purchases. From the routine of coin productions originally referred to by Hofzinser as “Money Training” there eventually emerged a complete routine with several effects. When the well-known psychic Daniel Dunglas Home (or Hume)5 came to Vienna in 1857, Hofzinser quickly developed a mathematical routine known as “Hume versus Dase,” 6 which is surprisingly effective to this day. It is known that Ottokar Fischer first learned about Hofzinser’s magic in 1895, from Georg Heubeck. Fischer’s notes have survived, and most of them are in the possession of Volker Huber in Frankfurt. When Fischer recognized the beauty of these tricks, he began to pursue other sources. In his 1910 book J. N. Hofzinser Kartenkünste (English title: J. N. Hofzinser’s Card Conjuring),7 he summarized all the card tricks he had

Fig. 2: Ottokar Fischer

See Non Plus Ultra, vol. I, p. 98.

Rosa Kastner—born 1835, died in Paris (date unknown)—was a celebrated piano virtuoso.

See Vorstadtzeitung, February 22, 1863.

See the Allgemeine Wiener Theaterzeitung of January 22, 1858, and also the Courier, January 24, 1858. 5 Daniel Dunglas Home (1833 –1886), born in Scotland and lived from the age of ten in North America. He was a well-known spirit medium of his time. In contemporary newspaper articles, his name was often misspelled Hume, reflecting the way Home pronounced it. 6 Johann Martin Zacharias Dase (1824–1861), German mathematician and lightning-calculator; see Table of Natural Logarithms, Vienna, 1850. 7

A more literal translation might be “J. N. Hof zinser: Card Artistries.”

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portion of the deck. You can now exchange the same two cards a second time by slipping the right hand’s card on top of the deck while your right index and middle fingers slide out the bottom card. The right thumb lowers onto the card, completing your grip on it, and your left hand moves away with the rest of the pack. This combination of bottom-top exchange with top-bottom exchange presents interesting possibilities, and can be combined further with Top Changes. Another idea: Push the right hand’s card into the slightly beveled deck, rather than slipping it underneath. By doing so, you can let the face of the bottom card be noticed, and that it does not change—without making a point of it.

C ommentary :

Hofzinser always considered the correct timing of the Top and Bottom Changes in each performance a matter of importance. In his letters he often wrote that it was necessary to practice the sleights until they were perfectly mastered, so that they could be performed without error when the appropriate moment arose. He repeatedly reminded his friends to exercise constant care in choosing the right moment to perform the change.

B ibliography :

Manuscripts: Various notes in Hofzinser’s letters and manuscripts. Literature: Anonymous, Lesebuch zur gesellschaftlichen Unterhaltung (Book of Social Entertainments), 1812, p. 59. Carl Willmann, Die Zauberwelt (The Magic World), November 1896, vol. 2, no. 11, p. 162. F. W. Conradi, Der vollendete Kartenkünstler (The Complete Card Magician), 1917, p. 50. Rudolf Marian, Das Buch der Kartenkünste (The Book of Card Magic), 1890, p. 5. Prof. Ellis Stanyon, Conjuring with Cards, 1898, p. 7. Edward Marlo, The Cardician, 1953, p. 35. And many more.

2.5 THE PACKET TOP CHANGE S hort

description :

In this switch, a small packet is exchanged for another before the eyes of the spectators without their perceiving it.

H istorical N otes :

51 See Privy Councillor Carl von Eckartshausen, Verschiedenes zum Unterricht für Liebhaber der Gaukeltasche, des Magnetismus und andere Seltenheiten (Miscellaneous Instruction for Lovers of the Gibecière, Magnetism and other Rarities), Munich, 1791, p. 139.

The exchange of a complete packet is only vaguely mentioned in the magic literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One usually sees this formulation: “Take the deck under the table or behind the back and exchange the packet of cards.” 51

P reparation :

If the cards are new, the packet can sometimes slip out of the fingers. Therefore, when beginning to practice this sleight, use somewhat worn cards. After some experience, newer cards can be used without mishap.

HOFZINSER’S CARD TECHNIQUE

P erformance : It is important to give the spectators the impression that the packet of cards never leaves their sight, and that the position of the cards and the position of the fingers on it have not changed. 1. Hold the deck face down in left-hand dealing position, with your thumb lying diagonally across the front left corner of the top card. The middle, ring and little fingers hold the deck at its right side. The index finger lies at the front end. Form a little-finger break under the cards you will switch in. The middle of the other fingertips contacts the side and front edges of the deck. There should be no tension in the hand. The fingers apply only enough pressure to stop the cards from slipping around. 2. Hold the packet to be exchanged face down and near its right inner corner, with your right thumb on top and the tip of your right index finger beneath. The position is like that used in the Top Change. (See Fig. 47.) The same movements of the hands and gaze explained in section 2.3 are performed. In brief, after having shown the cards in your right hand, you move your gaze from left to right over the audience. The right elbow is pressed lightly against the body, aiding in keeping the right hand and its cards stationary. The left hand moves with the deck slightly forward and upward, apparently to point at someone situated at your front left. Now move your left hand back and downward, at the same time shifting your gaze to the person you have pointed at; then move your gaze in a semicircle to the right until you fix it on a second person there. During these moments of eye contact, your left hand moves diagonally, from far left to near right, bringing the deck under the packet to be exchanged. Also make a small body turn to the right, to give the switch greater cover. Do not, though, turn completely to the right, presenting your profile to the audience, as this would be unnatural. 3. The left outer corner of the right hand’s packet now slides diagonally over the top of the deck. The right middle fingertip enters the left little finger’s break and clamps the cards above the break against the tip of the right index finger. The right thumb presses the cards to be switched out into the fork of the left thumb, where they are held with pressure from that thumb. (See Fig. 48.) The right thumbtip then presses against the tip of the right index finger, resulting in a finger position similar to that of the Bottom Change. If one brings the cards in the left hand quickly under the right hand’s new packet, a visual similarity to the beginning position is achieved. (See Figs. 49 and 50.) The left hand then moves the deck diagonally away from the right hand’s packet while you move your gaze over the right hand to the deck in the left hand and bring it once more to rest on the first spectator.

Fig. 47: Packet Change—phase 1

Fig. 48: Packet Change—phase 2

Fig. 49: Packet Change—phase 3

C ommentary :

Hofzinser used this sleight frequently; for example, during the finale of “Everywhere and Nowhere.” It is a direct but challenging method for exchanging several cards. In my experience, the sleight is made easier if the left hand

Fig. 50: Packet Change—phase 4

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close up the other cards, so that the card you looked at becomes the bottom card, and you can easily cause it to be mixed in with the others.

Fig. 60: Illustration from Ottokar Fischer’s J. N. Hofzinser Kartenkünste

The bottom card is held here lengthwise in alignment with others by the middle finger, under the fan, and not, as in Ottokar Fischer’s later descriptions in J. N. Hofzinser Kartenkünste, perpendicular to the length of the cards and fingers. (See Fig. 60.) In other descriptions of the time,59 the card is held with the right fingers during a straight spreading of the cards and is brought under the touched card, without being turned.

C ommentary :

It seems logical that Hofzinser would apply the actions of his Spread Control to achieve a force, drawing a known card from the spread to beneath it, rather than using the bottom card. However, he quite possibly could have used both versions. In the manuscripts there frequently appears the remark that a spectator touches a card in a fan; however, it is not expressly stated that the spectator touches a card in a static spread. It would have fit Hofzinser’s dynamic personality to have a card touched during the movement of spreading the cards. Many years later, the Under-the-Fan Force was reinvented several times, although with interesting handling touches: by Frank Butler (in J. G. Thompson’s Top Secrets of Magic), by Dai Vernon (Dai Vernon’s More Inner Secrets of Card Magic) and by the famous card magician and memory specialist Harry Lorayne (in his Close-Up Card Magic). In all these methods, a card is touched in a fanned deck, not in a hand-tohand spread, and the bottom card of the fan is shown to the spectator as the one he touched.

B ibliography :

59 For example, in the anonymous Vollständiges Zauberkabinett des Taschenspielers (Complete Magic Cabinet of the Conjurer), Pest, 1855, p. 4.

Manuscripts: Collection of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.: Eighth letter by Hofzinser to Carl von Pospischil. Ninth letter by Hofzinser to Carlo Marchini. Literature: Anonymous, MSS. III, 18, holograph, c. 1680–1730, Gibecière, vol. 8, no. 1, winter 2013. Anonymous, The Notebook, holograph, c. 1800, published 2009, Will Houstoun, p. 19, item 16. Joh. August Donndorf, Das Buch der Zauberei oder Magie für das gesellschaftliche Leben (The Book of Conjuring or Magic for Social Life), 1835, Vienna, fourth edition, p. 4. Anonymous, Das Geheimbuch des Taschenspielers (The Secret Book of the Conjurer), 1843, Gustav Heckenast Publishing, p. 388. R. P., Ein Spiel Karten (A Deck of Cards), 1853, p. 151. Anonymous, Vollständiges Zauberkabinett (Complete Magic Cabinet), 1855, Karl Edelmann Publishing, p. 388. Anonymous, The Magicians’ Own Book, 1857, p. 63; also published as The Boy’s Own Conjuring Book, 1859. Philadelphia, Die Kunst Zauberer zu werden (The Art of Becoming a Magician), 1876, p. 167.

HOFZINSER’S CARD TECHNIQUE

Rudolf Marian, Das Ganze der Salonmagie (The Complete Salon Magic), 1889, p. 106. Fritz Anders, Der junge Tausendkünstler (The Young Juggler), 1877, p. 33; 1890, p. 31. Adolf von Meerberg, Der gewandte Kartenkünstler (The Skillful Card Magician), 1899, p. 3. Carl Willmann, Die Zauberwelt (The Magic World) August 1900, “The Card Pointed Out,” p. 116. H.F.C. Suhr, Das grosse Buch der Zauberkunst (The Big Book of Magic), 1903, p. 173. Adolf von Meerberg, Auserlesene Kartenkunststücke (Selected Card Tricks) edition 1–13, from 1843–c. 1910. Burling Hull, Bulletin of Latest Sleights and Tricks, 1914, p. 12. Leopold Figner, Geheimnisse der Kartenkunst (Secrets of Card Magic), 1921, p. 67. J. G. Thompson, Top Secrets of Magic, 1956, p. 28. Lewis Ganson, Dai Vernon’s More Inner Secrets of Card Magic, 1960, p. 73. Harry Lorayne, Close Up Card Magic, 1962, p. 168. J. G. Thompson, Sleight Intended, 1973, p. 53. And many other sources.

2.9 THE CLASSIC FORCE, SHOWING THE BACKS OF THE CARDS, WITH THE GAZE S hort

description :

A fanned, face-down deck is presented to a spectator. Without the slightest apparent influence by the performer, the spectator draws the Queen of Hearts from the face-down cards. The Queen of Hearts is forced.

H istorical N otes :

As mentioned above, the classic form of forcing a card is centuries old and well known in Hofzinser’s time. The reliable forcing and controlling of a card were for Hofzinser the alpha and omega of card magic. Any unnatural handling or perceptible psychological pressure was repugnant to him. The spectator must always have the impression that he could take any card freely and without coercion. For this reason, in his scripts he repeatedly reinforced the notion, through casual comments in passing, that the choice of a card was completely voluntary. Usually he began with the words, “Please think of a card,” to conceal the psychology involved in physically taking a card. His analysis of the effects of psychology on the selection of a card provided the foundation for many of our present-day theories on the impact of magic on spectators. In the modern literature on forcing, there are several improvements in handling, in which better quality cards, their appearance, their printing design and their size play important roles. In his ninth letter to Carlo Marchini, Hofzinser wrote:

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To you, dear friend, I will explain a few of them with the greatest pleasure, but it is absolutely necessary for you to be able to handle all the essential techniques required, for instance adding or removing any desired number of cards from the deck without it being seen or noticed. Or the Filé, in other words the Top Change—then forcing several cards with assurance—etc. etc. in short let me know what you are capable of concerning technical matters. All these techniques do not have to be executed masterfully, but still at least tolerably. P reparation : Holding the deck face down in left-hand dealing grip, bring the card to be forced to the middle, using a cut or a Pass, and control it with the pad of the left little finger on the inner right corner of the face of the upper portion, holding a break.

P erformance :

60 E.g., Rudolf Marian, Das Buch der Kartenkünste (The Book of Card Magic), 1890, p. 8.

Spread the cards freely from the left hand into the right hand while your little finger continues to hold its break, controlling the card to be forced. (See Fig. 61.) In some of the old descriptions, the left thumb assists in the control, lying on top of the card to be forced.60 A spectator is asked to take a card from the deck. You make this request before you reach the controlled card. (See Fig. 62.) When you are about three cards short of the force card in your spreading, raise your head and look expectantly at the spectator. The timing of your gaze makes him feel obliged to grasp a card—the force card—to fulfill your psychologically implied request. The pressure is so great that most people comply. When the spectator’s hand is extended, the Queen of Hearts should be at exactly the right position for his grasp. (See Fig. 63.) At this moment, pull the spread of cards back a bit. The spectator will grasp

Fig. 61: Beginning the dynamic opening and closing motion of the cards

Fig. 62: Control of the forced card

Fig. 63: Controlling the halves of the deck so that only the force card can be taken

HOFZINSER’S CARD TECHNIQUE

C ommentary : Hofzinser emphasized the importance of treating the process of taking a card as a secondary thing, thereby invalidating any suspicion that the choice might be a forced one. He never observably pressured his spectators to take a card; rather, he allowed them to take one. This makes a big difference. In his letters and manuscripts, he repeatedly wrote that his friends needed to master the reliable force of a card. See his comment in his ninth letter to his friend Carlo Marchini in section 2.9, page 54. It helps, when forcing a card, not to look at the spread at all when the spectator is taking the card, but rather to control and feel the card with the fingertips of the right hand (or, for a left-handed performer, the left fingertips). This permits you to know whether the correct card was taken. You should look around at the spectators, your gaze traveling in a semicircle. This emphasizes the apparent freedom of choice of the card.64 By the same token, one should not forget to hold onto all the cards except the forced card, as this makes the force much easier.

B ibliography :

Manuscripts: Collection of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.: Sixth letter of Hofzinser to Carl von Pospischil. Ninth letter of Hofzinser to Carlo Marchini. Literature: Reginald Scot, The Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584, book XII, chapter 27. Privy Councillor von Eckartshausen, Verschiedenes zum Unterricht für Liebhaber der Gaukeltasche, des Magnetismus und anderer Seltenheiten (Miscellaneous Instructions for Lovers of Gibecière, Magnetism, and Other Rarities), 1791, p. 135. H. A. Kerndörf(f)er, Der kleine Taschenspieler und Magier (The Little Conjurer and Magician), 1820, third edition, p. 248. Prof. Kerndörf(f)er, Carlo Boscos Zauberkabinett (Carlo Bosco’s Magic Cabinet), 1874, fourteenth edition,65 p. 110. Prof. Hoffmann, Modern Magic, 1876, p. 111.

2.11 THE DEALING FORCE, USING THE GAZE S hort

description :

The performer deals cards from the deck one at a time and asks a spectator to say “stop” at some point. The card dealt when “stop” is called is the forced card.

H istorical N otes :

Prior to Hofzinser’s time, magicians found it sufficient to use some arithmetic operation to “determine” the number of cards that would be counted off; usually the sum of the digits of a two-digit number was employed. Hofz inser often applied the psychology of the gaze in place of arithmetic.

P reparation :

The forced card is eleventh from the top of the face-down deck.

P erformance :

Having asked a woman to help with the next trick, you begin dealing cards from the deck. After the third card you ask her to say “stop” at any time.

This agrees with the advice of Valentino Graziadei (1898–1965), Ken Brooke (1920–1983), Dai Vernon (1898–1994) and other expert card magicians. 65

This force cannot be found in earlier editions.

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Because the cards had no indices, they did not stand out from the socalled “common” cards, but instead could be distinguished solely by the heads and the corresponding suits. If these elements were covered by the thumb, the illusion was perfect and natural. Hofzinser used the following diagonally divided cards:

G roup 1 Divided front Queen of Hearts / Jack of Clubs Queen of Hearts / Queen of Spades Queen of Hearts / King of Clubs Queen of Hearts / King of Hearts Queen of Hearts / King of Diamonds King of Hearts / Jack of Clubs

Fig. 86: Historical cards by the Titze Company, from the Piatnik playing card collection

Divided front King of Hearts / Queen of Spades King of Diamonds / Jack of Clubs King of Diamonds / Queen of Spades Queen of Diamonds / Jack of Spades Queen of Diamonds / King of Spades Jack of Diamonds / King of Clubs

Fig. 87: Piatnik Company, new divided cards from the Hofzinser Magic Card line

G roup 2 A normal deck with backs showing divided cards consisting of the Jack of Clubs / King of Hearts, for the trick “The Wonderful Deck.” Also an additional double-faced card with the King of Hearts and Jack of Clubs. (See section 3.1, p. 67.)

G roup 3

81 See L’Antidote ou le contrepoison des chevaliers d’industrie ou joueurs de profession (The antidote or counterpoison against the knights of industry or professional gamblers) by “A Venise” (A Venetian), 1768, tenth letter.

There is also a card consisting of the Ace of Diamonds / Three of Diamonds. It has only two diamond pips. (See Fig. 88.) Depending on which end is covered, one can show either an Ace of Diamonds or a Three of Diamonds by using the thumb to cover the second diamond pip or the blank space opposite. This Ace / Three gaffed card was not Hofzinser’s creation. It was used by both magicians and card cheats in the 1700s and probably earlier.81 (See section 5.7, “Think and Forget,” p. 183.)

C ommentary :

With earlier trick cards, one always had to cover half the card with another card or with several fingers. Even today there are many tricks

GIMMICKS AND GAFFED CARDS

involving diagonally divided cards the halves of which are simply butted up against each other along their middle or diagonal junctions, rather than the join being disguised by an artful transition. Hofzinser’s divided cards brought new advantages for the performer. The idea of card faces that blend into each other is brilliant. When the Steiger Playing Card Company changed their card faces in 1847, Hofzinser had to have new trick cards made. The company ceased production in 1856, and Hofzinser had new cards made by the Titze Company, which later became Titze & Schinkay in 1859.82

B ibliography :

Manuscripts: Library of Congress collection, Washington, D.C.: Ninth and tenth letters from Hofzinser to Carl von Pospischil. Literature: Rosa Klingl, catalogs, Vienna, beginning in 1880. Rudolf Marian, Das Ganze der Salonmagie (Complete Salon Magic), 1889, p. 110. Rudolf Marian, Das Buch der Kartenkünste (The Book of Card Magic), 1890, p. 68. F. W. Conradi-Horster, catalogs, Dresden beginning in 1896 and Berlin beginning in 1904. Carl Willmann, Die Zauberwelt (The Magic World), vol. 6, no. 9, September 1900, p. 133.

Fig. 88: Piatnik Company, Ace of Diamonds / Three of Diamonds, included in the Hofzinser Magic Card line

H ofzinser divided cards are in various collections , including :

Piatnik Company playing card collection, Vienna. Volker Huber collection, Offenbach, Germany. Klaus Reisinger playing card collection, Vienna. Werner Seyfferditz playing card collection, Vienna.

3.3 TRANSPARENT CARDS S hort

description :

Transparent cards are special playing cards that reveal a different picture inside them when they are held before a light source and viewed from the front. They do not have a strong pattern printed on the back, as such backs would decrease the translucency.

H istory :

Today’s playing cards contain a black middle layer that is impervious to light. In earlier times, playing cards were translucent, and to keep down the cost of production they rarely had a strongly colored back pattern. When printed on the back, cards usually had a light pink or faint blue flowered pattern. Transparent cards have existed since the eighteenth century. In the jargon of card manufacturers, they are more accurately known as “translucent” cards. The middle layer of these playing cards was printed with pornographic images or concealed information.83 The front layer of the card bore a printed card face. Usually the card faces used for

Fig. 89: The different layers of a playing card

82 Some of these are now in the playing card collection of the Piatnik Company. 83

Volker Huber collection, Offenbach, Germany; Graphics collection at the Wiener Albertina, Vienna; Klaus Reisinger collection, Vienna.

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Fig. 98: Making a fan with a Sewn Deck

The difference in the two cascades is caused by the somewhat off-center positioning of the threading. A coordinated upward and downward movement of both hands, as if you were playing an accordion vertically, aids in achieving the desired effect. The falling motion must never be interrupted. This would expose the secret of the connected cards. With practice, you can also throw the cards upward, forming an airborne column. (See Fig. 97.) If you hold the cards in the left hand, with the thumb stretched across the back of the deck at its lower end, and the index and middle fingers resting along the face of the deck at the same end, you can Fig. 97: Making an airborne column with a Sewn Deck use your right thumb at the top end to spread the deck in a beautifully even fan. It is easy! The threads between the cards guarantee an attractive result. (See Fig. 98.) The cards can also be ribbon spread on a cloth-covered surface. You may then lift the bottom end of the spread and turn all the cards over, domino fashion. The speed of the movement will conceal the thread. At the end of the manipulations, you secretly exchange the cards for a normal deck, which can be given for inspection. Years of practice are required with normal cards to achieve a similar effect. More manipulations with the Sewn Deck will be discussed in section 8.1, “The Card Etudes” (p. 317).

C ommentary :

Fig. 99: Illustrations from the catalogs of the Klingl Company, 1892–1925

Hofzinser used this deck in combination with a normal one. He would skillfully exchange the decks for each other to simulate a fantastic level of skill—one even greater than that he possessed, which was clearly formidable—for with the Sewn Deck he could perform additional manipulations that were impossible with normal cards. Following this idea, you might secretly exchange the decks by causing the sewn pack to disappear, and then reproduce apparently the same deck (but actually an ungimmicked one) from under your jacket. Perform a few flourishes with the normal cards, such as a fan, a cascade and a hand-to-hand spring. Eventually hand out the deck for examination. There is nothing unusual to find. If Hofzinser knew the second method of sewing the cards given above, whereby the threads lead diagonally from one card to the next, he could have performed the cascade or “waterfall” in two ways. In the first method, the cards are held either by the ends or by the sides and are allowed to fall, one behind the other. In the second method, the cards are made to fall downward from the deck, but flip over very impressively just before they fall into the lower hand.

CARD TRICKS IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER OBJECTS

One of the cards, the Queen of Hearts, is marked 265 by tearing off a corner, which its selector holds as insurance. A portrait is shown of the famous dancer Pepita de Oliva. The deck is thrown against the picture, and all the selected cards, including the Queen of Hearts, appear under the glass of the portrait, and the torn-off corner exactly matches the Queen under the pane of glass. Finally, a card is loaded into a pistol and shot toward the flame of a candle. That card magically takes the place of the flame. In an earlier variation, Hofzinser used the picture of a winter landscape, which transformed to a summer landscape under the influence of “Bengal fire” from a bowl; it was then transformed into the summer landscape which included the three selected cards.266 (See section 7.2.)

H istory :

Hofzinser here cleverly combined several of his tricks to form an extended routine. This appeared for the first time in the program of the opening of his salon on January 3, 1857. Later he performed it on several occasions during his “Kunstreisen” (artistic trips), as these tours were then called.267 Even earlier, he caused three cards to appear in the frame containing a picture of a celebrated personality. (Again see section 7.2.) Until that point, it was a single effect. In 1847, in an enclosure to a letter to his friend Carl von Pospischil, he described the handling of the picture frame and sent him six different portraits along with one of himself, remarking:

– please hang it up out of gratitude – under a frame.268 In the same manuscript, he alludes to the alternating use of landscapes and portraits, along with their handling:

I do the transformation of winter into summer while covered, by holding the picture over a spirit flame – and I mask the audible rolling with an accidental bumping with the frame... The trick was altered, depending on the occasion and the audience. Any portraits printed on thin paper could be installed onto the rollers of the picture. The theme of finding a selected card in a candle is much older, and can be found in the literature of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; for example, in Prof. Kerndörf(f)er’s Carl der Tausendkünstler (1825). Hofzinser’s routine was later copied by Carlo Marchini from Heubeck’s records, then passed on to Ottokar Fischer. It seems originally to have been called “Two Powers”; in Heubeck’s manuscript this was changed to “Three Powers” and also copied in this revised version by Carlo Marchini. A manuscript by Carl von Pospischil describing the routine is in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

P reparation :

The routine, combining five effects,269 requires a long and precise preparation, as it involves seven different props. The Forced Thought The Rising Card

265

In Carl von Pospischil’s manuscript, and in W. Lukesch’s records in the magazine Die Zauberwelt, the Jack of Clubs, the last of the three cards, is marked. In Heubeck’s description, it is the Queen of Hearts. 266

See the first letter to Carl von Pospischil, Non Plus Ultra, vol. I, p. 247.

267

See Non Plus Ultra, vol. I, pp. 327, 334, 358.

268

See Non Plus Ultra, vol. I, first letter to Pospi pp. 246–7, and manuscript library205. Also p. 260 of the present volume. schil, 269

Ottokar Fischer referred to four effects. He did not consider the Flap-Card to be a trick of itself.

265

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The Card Picture The Flap Card The Profitchen (candle-lighter) A Leaping-Card Mechanism A Card Index Two stacked decks very similar, when not identical, to those used in “The Forced Thought—First Version” (section 6.4, p. 240) are employed in this routine. According to the manuscripts, some cards in one deck can be traded with those in the other.

Deck A 8 of Hearts 10 of Clubs King of Diamonds 9 of Spades Queen of Clubs 10 of Diamonds King of Spades 9 of Hearts (7 of Hearts) 7 of Spades Ace of Clubs Jack of Diamonds (Jack of Hearts) 8 of Clubs 7 of Diamonds (9 of Diamonds) Jack of Spades Ace of Hearts 10 of Clubs 8 of Hearts 9 of Spades 10 of Diamonds Ace of Clubs Jack of Diamonds (Jack of Hearts) Queen of Clubs 9 of Hearts (7 of Hearts) King of Spades 8 of Clubs King of Diamonds 7 of Spades Jack of Spades 7 of Diamonds (9 of Diamonds) Queen of Hearts

30 cards: of which three are thought-of

Deck B 10 of Spades Jack of Hearts (Jack of Diamonds) 7 of Clubs Queen of Spades Ace of Diamonds King of Clubs 10 of Hearts Ace of Spades Queen of Diamonds 8 of Spades Jack of Clubs 9 of Diamonds (7 of Diamonds) 7 of Clubs 7 of Hearts (7 of Hearts) 10 of Spades Jack of Hearts (Jack of Diamonds) 9 of Clubs Ace of Diamonds Queen of Spades 10 of Hearts King of Clubs Ace of Spades Queen of Diamonds 8 of Diamonds Jack of Clubs 9 of Diamonds (7 of Diamonds) King of Hearts – – – 27 cards: from which the thought-of cards vanish

In the manuscript, Heubeck wrote of deck A:

from which 3 cards are thought of, exchanged by servants...

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CARD TRICKS IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER OBJECTS

Hofzinser, of course, had his wife help him. He never wrote about anyone else assisting him in his programs. You will need to install the Leaping-Card Mechanism in your left outside breast pocket. Into this, place three double-backed cards. This gimmick is described in section 3.10 and Fig. 117 (p. 94). The Card Index contains the sixteen cards of arranged Deck A. (See section 3.8 and Figs. 109 and 110, pp. 88–9.) The indexed cards are arranged as follows:270

Hearts: Spades: Diamonds: Clubs:

Fig. 177: Duplicates of the forced cards are placed between the threaded guide cards, from Kartenkünste

Ace, Queen, Eight, Nine (or Seven) King, Jack, Nine, Seven King, Jack, Ten, Seven (or Nine) Ace, Queen, Ten, Eight

In the back pocket of the tailcoat or in a trousers pocket, have a complete deck available, with the Ten of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts and Jack of Spades on top. The Queen of Hearts is very lightly marked on the back, so that you can later tear off a piece that approximately matches that the spectator will have in one of his pockets. This piece fits the flap card. (See “Hofzinser’s Flap Card,” section 3.6, p. 80.) Three duplicate cards are installed in the rising-card device about to be described. These cards will later rise from the deck in a manner very cleverly thought out by Hofzinser. Punch small holes, about one millimeter (1⁄ 32") in diameter, into the middle of one end of four cards. The holes should be approximately two to three millimeters (1⁄10") from the edge and must have smooth edges, so that a thread can slide through them easily. Hofzinser used a long, oilfree, woman’s hair. One end of it is attached to the end of the first card, and then threaded through the holes in the other three cards. The free end of the thread or hair is embedded in a ball of sticky wax the size of a pea. Push the duplicate cards between these threaded ones. According to Fischer, this prepared packet is placed into an envelope made of black paper and fastened with push pins to the magician’s tabletop at the rear edge. (See Figs. 177, 178 and 179.)

Fig. 179: The arrangement of the duplicate cards between the threaded ones

Fig. 178: Arrangement of the threaded packet on the table, from Kartenkünste

270 In Fischer’s Kartenkünste, p. 198, the list of these cards is unfortunately incorrect. This seems to have gone generally unnoticed.

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NON PLUS ULTRA

9.2 ÉTUDE D’ART BRILLANT S hort

description :

Once again, there are no manuscripts or further allusions to this trick in newspaper reports, apart from an advertisement in a newspaper at Bad Ischl.

H istory :

This might also be an alternative title for Hofzinser’s famous “Card Études,” but in this case it was not performed at the beginning of his program, but rather as the fourth item. (See the advertisement in the Bad Ischler Anzeiger of September 11, 1869, p. 353.)

P reparation :

Unknown, due to lack of documentation.

P erformance :

Unknown, due to lack of documentation.

C ommentary :

All we have is the title from the advertisement in the Bad Ischler Anzeiger, making it difficult to classify this trick. Since Hofzinser performed his muchadmired card exercises in almost all his programs, this title could refer to a variant sequence of his favorite manipulations. It is possible that a description for this title will be found someday. After so many new insights have been attained, this possibility should never be excluded.

B ibliography :

Newspapers: Advertisement in the Bad Ischler Anzeiger, September 11, 1869.

9.3 MAGIC IN THE FORM OF POETRY S hort

description :

No manuscripts or newspaper accounts exist for this trick.

H istory :

A surviving playbill—unfortunately with no date printed on the original, but having penciled on it May 1, 1863, by an unknown visitor to the show (during the period of the salon in the Walfischgasse)—lists this title as the fourth trick among twelve program items. Since Hofzinser presented his famous “Library” in the same program, it is unlikely that any connection can be made between this trick and the title “The Library of German Poetry.” We cannot be certain this was a card trick. This title does not appear in known later programs. However, Hofzinser always referred to card magic as “the poetry of magic.”

P reparation :

Unknown, due to lack of documentation.

P erformance :

Unknown, due to lack of documentation.

C ommentary :

This may well be a card trick, for the following reasons: First, none of Hof zinser’s other famous card tricks, aside from the introductory “Card Artist,” is part of this program. Second, “Variations on Any Desired Topic”—

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