Magic Tricks

The top card men in the world disagree on many things. One thing they all agree on is that no other book in the history of card manipulation deserves careful study more than The Expert at the Card Table. After one hundred years, it is still considered the foundation upon which modern card magic is based. It contains some of the most perfectly constructed sleights in all of card magic. Even more important are the profound lessons in the real secrets of magic: naturalness, attention to detail, uniformity of action and the psychology of deception. For a century, the methods of S.W. Erdnase have been studied, practiced and written about by countless card experts. One person who spent a lifetime studying every detail of this landmark book is Darwin Ortiz.

Card expert, Arthur Buckley, demonstrates tricks that have left theater audiences amazed, and that card-playing professionals have used profitably. It is not a book for beginners. But these shifts, palms, glides, false shuffles, cuts, fans, steals, and spectacular deceptions will help those with basic card expertise reach new levels of performance.

Hands down, one of our favorite books on card magic is Effective Card Magic by Bill Simon (republished as Card Magic For Amateurs and Professionals by Dover). The book is full of wonderful card magic tricks and sleights. And like the title suggest, it’s perfect for anyone interested in the subject.

It will prove to be a great start if you’re just getting into card magic.

When one enters card magic, the books are endless. Coming across By Forces Unseen is a special moment in any card magician's growth. It is a pleasure to read. Beautifully written and researched by Stephen Minch, you will find many other books mentioned in the references that will advance your pasteboard path. Ernest Earick is a genius. Simply put when you learn the routines in this book your appreciation for sleight of hand will captivate your imagination.The construction of effects and sleights stand the test of time. It is a must have.

Widely considered to be the greatest collection of Vernon's brilliant and influential card magic, the original three volumes have been combined into one sensational book with 240 pages of exceptional effects. Complete with over 190 photographs of the Professor's hands, you'll find such Vernon classics as The Notis Stop Trick, Twisting The Aces, McDonald's $100 Routine, Cards To Pocket, The Trick That Cannot Be Explained, Blindfold Poker Deal, Three Card Monte and lots more.

Larry Jennings remarked that Aaron Fisher was the most promising young card magician he had seen in the past twenty years.

Johnny Thompson says, "The material in this book is top notch, and I guarantee it will enhance the repertoire of any serious student of card magic immensely."

Eric Mason was not only a brilliant inventor and magician; he was a creative and talented illustrator. In this beautifully designed book, Mason showcases these qualities and offers a collection of original magic that has received acclaim from such legendary magicians as Roy Walton, Fred Robinson, Gordon Bruce, and Peter Duffie, to name just a few.

One of our favorite books on card magic. It features a very well thought out method for the Convincing Control, one of card magic's most ingenious techniques, and looks at variations and applications in a degree that is truly rare in the field. In addition to learning the elegant technique and the numerous variations, you will also encounter one of the best sources for card magic effects on the planet.

Perhaps the greatest contemporary book featuring the magic of one individual, Carneycopia is a true delight. John Carney's thoughts and methods are superbly detailed in this excellent book by one of magic's greatest writers, Stephen Minch.

This is an informal history of sensational, scientific, silly, satisfying and startling attractions based on seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century broadsides from Ricky Jay's extraordinary collection.

Jim Steinmeyer’s sequel to Impuzzibilities contains ten new “interactive” effects, including the amazing “King’s Coronation,” an interactive effect suitable for television, video or radio. One effect uses no apparatus, just the spectators’ hands! “The Five Fiends Blackjack” deal is a completely self-working Blackjack effect; the “Thirteen Card Dilemma” is a surprising routine in which cards simply can’t be counted - they multiply and then disappear.

In a delectably deadpan and winning style, Jay conveys his admiration and affection for the offbeat that characterized his bestselling Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women. He explains how wags since the sixteenth century have cheated at bowling; he explores the ancient relationship between conjuring and dentistry; and he chronicles the exploits of ceiling walkers and human flies. Crammed full of illustrations drawn from the author's massive personal archive, Jay's Journal of Anomalies will baffle, instruct, and, above all, delight.

This is the first book-length study of this fascinating branch of recreational mathematics. Written by one of the foremost experts on mathematical magic, it summarizes, with considerable historical data and bibliography, all previous work in this field; it is also a creative examination of laws and their exemplification, with scores of new tricks, new insights and new demonstrations. In this volume, for the first time, dozens of topological tricks are explained and dozens of manipulation tricks are aligned with mathematical law.

It has often been said that mastering the magic in this book will make you an accomplished close-up and sleight-of-hand artist. In many ways it contains all the magic you need to build a professional caliber repertoire. Many have earned a living performing these routines and now you can too. If you have not read and learned the magic contained in this book you have no business calling yourself a close-up magician. The magic by John Scarne, Dai Vernon, Bert Allerton, S. Leo Horowitz, Emil Jarrow, Francis Carlyle, Dr. Jacob Daley, Tony Slydini, Ross Bertram, Nate Leipzig, and Max Malini helped shape the art of close-up magic as we know it.

Prepare to be amazed! Inside the covers of this incredible, colorful collection are hundreds of the world's most powerful optical illusions. They're beautiful to behold, and stunning in their trickery.

Some of the mind-boggling images seem to spring into action, vibrating, pulsing, and spinning like a hula hoop. Other ambiguous illusions feature two subjects in one: the fun is in finding them both in the single picture - including a mouse playing hide and seek in a cat's face and a strange desert mirage where palm trees imperceptibly morph into camels. And still more, like The Impossible Terrace, which couldn't exist off the page - just try to figure out if you're viewing the space from above or below. Every one is astonishing.

If you're just a curious fan of magic or a full time pro, the Art of Astonishment is a magical treasure. This three-volume set spans a history of time and creativity that can't be missed. Famous and full-time professionals use the material within these pages on a daily basis to make a living.

Roberto Giobbi's remarkable Card College books have become the groundbreaking course in the subject - an analysis of the art, science, technique and philosophy of card magic. Card College has changed the way a generation of magicians have learned card magic, and changed the way they think about it.

Imagine this, you're holding a lousy hand of poker spread at the fingertips. In a subtle action of riffling the edges of the cards, they seem to magically morph into a royal flush. The cards are visible the whole time and can immediately be handed out for examination.

The Experts Journal is a beautiful reproduction of the original 1902 publication of The Expert at the Card Table by S.W. Erdnase. On the outside, it's a perfect facsimile, however, leaf through the pages and you'll discover an empty canvas for new ideas. This isn't just another edition, but a journal in which to coalesce your card-centric thoughts.

Pit Hartling is internationally known for his innovations in card magic. He is a FISM award winner and member of the hilarious Flicking Fingers. In this book are "Seven performance pieces with an ordinary deck" including Finger Flicker, a trick recently seen performed by David Blaine on his TV special, Dive of Death.

Drawing Room Deceptions was one of the first magic books added to our library. With many pages now tattered, it still remains on our top shelf. The discoveries found within represent cunning variations of classical concepts. Guy's ingenious design in constructing effects brings mystery and prestige back to the conjuror.

Fred Robinson was a private man but his skill at sleight-of-hand with cards and coins was legendary. He could be found at the Magic Circle on Monday evenings and many well-known names from around the world paid homage to Fred and traveled countless miles to witness for themselves his legendary skills.

I state without fear of exaggerating that Fred was one of the all-time greats; especially with cards. - Dai Vernon

A virtual encyclopedia on the subject of memorized-deck magic, by the world's leading exponent and one of magic's acknowledged masters. It is a book crammed with magic from the working repertoire of Juan Tamariz, magic that leaves everyone, public and magicians, utterly astounded. It is a book capable of changing the reader's entire approach to card magic, and a work that supports Juan Tamariz's reputation as one of the most important and creative thinkers in magic today.

Welcome to Dai Vernon's legendary annotations for The Expert at the Card Table by S.W. Erdnase. This new over-size book was triggered by the discovery of more than 160 long-lost photographs of Dai Vernon's hands that were taken in 1961 specifically to illustrate this manuscript. It is as close as you will ever get to a personal session with The Professor.

One of our favorite books on card magic growing up. Steranko on Cards, as well as Totally Out of Control, were the first books to introduce us to the visual style of magic we have pursued.

This book offers many fantastic sleights and tricks you'll have a lot of fun with.

A modern classic of close-up magic. Earl Nelson has compiled a beautiful collection of card, coin and finger-ring magic into this extraordinary volume.

Containing over one hundred and fifty of Herb's most cherished secrets, sleights and routines, most of which appear here in print for the first time. The book, a distillation of one humble man's journey to the essence of his art, is destined to join a short list of true classics of magic.

Popular Mechanics brought vintage boyhood into the 21st century. The Boy Magician is a collection of 156 marvelous magic tricks from Popular Mechanics issues of long ago. Featuring everything from sleight-of-hand to disappearing coins, mysterious spinning eggs to optical illusions, capturing all the appeal of American ingenuity at the start of the last century. 

So for the child in all of us who always wanted to know the secrets behind astounding feats of illusion, The Boy Magician reveals all!

Howard Hamburg was the highlight of the 2009 GGG convention in San Francisco. These notes were printed in a very limited edition for that convention and immediately sold out. They have been positively reviewed and highly sought after.

His stories and rich history with Dai Vernon and others have been recorded in this beautiful full-color booklet. Also included are 5 of Howard's favorite effects complete with illustrations.

A treatise on the body's role in deception. Juan Tamariz teaches magicians that it is not the hands alone that deceive, but also the feet, the body, the eyes and the voice. It is only through a full understanding of all five of these tools of nature and communication that the conjurer can spin a complete web of illusion that traps and then transports his audiences into the astonishing realm he has prepared for them.

Jim Steinmeyer’s latest book is a collection of 13 surprising effects, many suitable as “interactive” effects, through the medium of a page, radio, videotape or phone. It starts with his famous mathematical “Nine Card Problem” with his variations, and even includes a “3-Card Monte” and a card transposition which takes place completely in the spectator’s hands.

Optical illusion art, created by such innovative artists as M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali, confuses the eye with visual paradoxes, from vibrating effects to moire patterns. Bring together a remarkable tapestry of words and illustrations, Masters of Deception celebrates more than 400 years of the art form that defies expectation. Some of the finest and most prominent optical illusion work in a range of genres can be seen together for the first time in this unique retrospective.

This beautiful program includes an introduction from Max Maven and over 100 pages of presenter bio's, portraits, articles, tricks and lined pages for taking notes.

In this first major book by one of the United States' most respected professionals, Eric Mead covers a wide range of magic and mentalism, drawn completely from his professional repertoire and fine-tuned by performance after performance to its present form.

Williamson's Wonders is the only book ever published on the magic of award-winning magician David Williamson (written by Richard Kaufman) and includes many tricks that have since been featured on national television by David Blaine. If you're looking for visual walk around street magic using cards and coins than this will prove to be a worthwhile read.