Legerdemain - The Art of Sleight of Hand - Including Magic Tricks

By Anon Anon

This unusual book, containing an impressive variety of sleight of hand magic tricks, is sure to delight young and old alike and is the perfect introduction to magic of this type. Its 88 pages contain a wealth of anecdote on a variety of tricks and stunts that are guaranteed to liven up your dinner party. Thoroughly recommended reading for the budding magician. Extensively illustrated with black and white drawings and explanatory diagrams This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473353596

Book preview

Sleights

Magic Tricks

Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks, or creating illusions of a seemingly impossible, or supernatural nature—utilising natural means. These feats are called magic tricks, effects, or illusions. Some performers may also be referred to by names reflecting the type of magical effects they present, such as prestidigitators (sleight of hand), conjurors (purportedly invoking deities or spirits), hypnotists (involving individuals mental states), mentalists (demonstrating highly evolved mental abilities) or escape artists (the art of escaping from restraints or traps). The term ‘magic’ is etymologically derived from the Greek word mageia. Greeks and Persians had been at war for centuries and the Persian priests, called magosh in Persian, came to be known as magoi in Greek; a term which eventually referred to any foreign, unorthodox or illegitimate ritual practice.

Performances which modern observers would recognize as conjuring have probably been practiced throughout history. But for much of magic’s history, magicians have been associated with the devil and the occult. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many performers capitalised on this notion in their advertisements and shows. In the UK, this association dates back to Reginald Scott’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft, published in 1584, in which he attempted to show that witches did not exist, by exposing how many (apparently miraculous) feats of magic were done. The book is often deemed the first textbook about conjuring, but all obtainable copies were burned on the accession of James I in 1603, and those remaining are now very rare. For many centuries, magic was performed either on the street as a type of entertainment for the common masses or at court, for nobility. During the early 1800s however, large-scale magic performances began making their way onto the theatre stage. Modern entertainment magic owes much to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805–1871), originally a clockmaker, who opened a magic theatre in Paris in the 1840s. His speciality was the construction of mechanical automata which appeared to move and act as if they were alive; a feat which wowed his audiences for many years.

The escapologist and magician, Harry Houdini took his stage name from Robert-Houdin and developed a range of stage magic tricks, many of them based on what became known after his death as ‘escapology’. Houdini was genuinely skilled in techniques such as lock picking and escaping straitjackets, but also made full use of the range of conjuring techniques, including fake equipment and collusion with individuals in the audience. In the modern day, these forms of magic easily transferred from theatrical venues to television specials; a transition which has opened up myriad new opportunities for deceptions. It has also brought stage magic to vast audiences, as most television magicians perform before a live audience, who provide the remote viewer with a reassurance that the illusions are not obtained with post-production visual effects. Some modern illusionists believe that it is unethical to give a performance that claims to be anything other than a clever and skilful deception. Most of these performers therefore eschew the term ‘magician’ (which they view as making a claim to supernatural power) in favour of ‘illusionist’ and similar descriptions. On the other side of the coin, many performers say that magical acts, as a form of theatre, need no more of a disclaimer than any play or film; this viewpoint is reflected in the words of magician and mentalist Joseph Dunninger, who stated that ‘for those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who do not believe, no explanation will suffice.’

Although there is also discussion among magicians about how a given effect should be categorised, they broadly fall into the following categories: ‘Production’ (where the magician produces something from nothing; a rabbit from a hat for example), ‘Vanish’ (where something disappears), ‘Transformation’ (where a silk handkerchief may change colour), ‘Restoration’ (where the magician will destroy an object, then restore it to its original state, ‘Teleportation’ (where a borrowed ring may be found inside a ball of wool, or a canary inside a light bulb), ‘Levitation’ (where the magician, or some person or object defies gravity), and ‘Prediction’ (where events are predicted under seemingly impossible and unexplainable circumstances).

Card Manipulation

Card manipulation is the branch of magical illusion that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used in magical performances, to great effect, especially in close-up, parlour and street magic. Some of the most recognised names in this field include Dai Vernon, a Canadian magician with considerable influence, specialising in sleight of hand, Ed Marlo, an American born magician who referred to himself as a ‘cardician’, and Alex Elmsley, a Scot who was notable for his invention of the Ghost Count or Elmsley Count, creating various mathematical card tricks, and for publishing the mathematics of card shuffling. Before becoming world famous for his escapology act, Houdini billed himself as ‘The King of Cards’.

Cards have a long and illustrious history, they were first invented in Imperial China, and specimens have been found dating back as early the ninth century, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Female players were some of the most frequent participants, and the first known book on cards, called Yezi Gexi (presumably written in the 860s) was originally written by a Tang era woman, subsequently undergoing additions by other Chinese scholars. By the eleventh century, playing cards could be found throughout the Asian continent. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), characters from novels such as the Water Margin were widely featured on the faces of playing cards. Playing cards first entered Europe in the early fourteenth century, probably from Egypt, with suits (sets of cards with matching designs) very similar to the tarot suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins (also known as disks or pentacles). These latter markings are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese decks. Playing cards were first formalised into something closely resembling our modern deck in the seventeenth century, but the joker was only introduced by the USA in the 1870s.

As props, playing cards have only become popular with magicians in the last century or so, largely due to their inexpensive nature, versatility and easy availability. Although magicians have created and presented myriad of illusions with cards (sometimes referred to as tricks), most of these illusions are generally considered to be built upon one hundred or so basic principles and techniques. Presentation and context (including patter, the conjurer’s misleading account of what he is doing) account for many of the variations. Card magic, in one form or another, likely dates from the time playing cards became commonly known, towards the second half of the fourteenth century, but its history in this period is largely undocumented. Compared to sleight of hand magic in general and to cups and balls, it is a relatively new form of magic. Common manipulation techniques include ‘lifts’, where one or more cards (normally known to the audience) are selected and identified as part of the illusion, ‘false deals’, which appear to deliver cards fairly, when actually the cards are predetermined or known to the performer, and ‘side slips’, a technique generally used to bring a predetermined card to the top of a deck. Passes, Palming, False Shuffles, False Cuts, Changes, Crimps, Jogs and Reverses are also commonly utilised manipulations.

LEGERDEMAIN

There is no branch of conjuring that so fully repays the amateur for his labor and study as slight-of-hand with cards. The artist is always sure of a comprehensive and appreciative audience. There is no amusement or pastime in the civilized world so prevalent as card games, and almost everybody loves a good trick. But the special advantage in this respect is that the really clever card-handler can dispense with the endless devices and preparations that encumber the performer in other branches. He is ever prepared for the most unexpected demands upon his ability to amuse or mystify, and he can sustain his reputation with nothing but the family deck and his nimble fingers, making his exhibition all the more startling because of its known impromptu nature and simple accessories.

To the student who wishes to make the most rapid progress toward the actual performance of tricks, we suggest that he first take up the study and practice of our System of Blind Shuffles as taught in the first part of this book, acquiring thorough proficiency in forming and using the jog and break, which make this style of shuffle possible. We are aware that all conjurers advise the shift or pass, as the first accomplishment, and while we do not belittle the merits of the shift when perfectly performed, we insist that all or any of the various methods of executing it, are among the most difficult feats the student will be called upon to acquire, and imposing such a task at the outset has a most discouraging effect. But so far as we can learn from the exhibitions and literature of conjurers, not one of them knows of, or at least employs or writes of, a satisfactory substitute; hence their entire dependence upon that artifice to produce certain results.

When the blind shuffles with the coincident jog and break are thoroughly understood, the student should take up our System of Palming, also treated in the first part, paying particular attention to the bottom palm, and with even a moderate degree of skill in these accomplishments he will be enabled to perform many of the best tricks that conjurers make entirely dependent on the shift.

For example, the common process for obtaining possession of a selected card when it is replaced in the deck, is to insert the little finger over it, make a shift bringing the lower packet with the selected card to the top, palm it off in the right hand, and give the deck to the spectator to shuffle. Now it may be a matter of opinion, but we think it would appear quite as natural if the performer were to shuffle the deck himself, immediately when the card is replaced in the middle, then palm off and hand the deck to the spectator to shuffle. If the spectator shuffles for the purpose of concealing any knowledge of its whereabouts, the performer’s shuffle