Camping and Woodcraft
Originally published in 1906 as one volume, Camping and Woodcraft was expanded into a two-volume edition in 1916 and 1917. Ranked sixth among the ten best-selling sporting books of all time, Camping and Woodcraft remains a classic for campers and a veritable outdoor enthusiast's bible. This manual reflects Horace Kephart's practical knowledge and covers, in depth, any problem that campers might confront. Kephart lived in the Great Smoky Mountains and spent most of his time in the wild. Consequently, he became an expert on all aspects of camp life from living in a semipermanent lean-to to traveling with only the bare essentials in a backpack. More than simply a hunting or fishing guide, Kephart's book covers a wide variety of subjects from how to dress game and fish to how to shoot accurately. Every chapter is filled with tips that remain useful even after nearly a century of improvements in equipment and technology.
Trout Bum
Brilliant, witty, perceptive essays about fly-fishing, the natural world, and life in general by the acknowledged master of fishing writers. While most of us fly-fish to escape from daily life, for John Gierach and his friends fly-fishing IS a way of life. They are trout bums. But John Gierach is also an exceptional writer. The essays in Trout Bum are reflective, bitingly humorous and enormously wise in the ways of fishing and men. In vivid, unforgettable detail they recount the emotional, spiritual and tangible adventures and pleasures of stalking trout in and around the Rockies--day in, day out, from season to season, with friends and alone. John Gierach's essays join the literary tradition of angling classics like The River Why, and A River Runs Through It.
Productive Tactics Shallow Water
Shallow Water Bass provides anglers with a way to "shortcut" years of experience. It offers a new, effective system to quicker understanding and developing patterns. It's an informative fishing experience.
Moments of Doubt
* David Roberts is one of the leading outdoor adventure writers of our time * Includes stories of climbing personalities like Reinhold Messner, John Roskelley, Don Sheldon This collection of 20 essays and articles on mountaineering and adventure by David Roberts, selected from the published works of two decades, showcases one of the most highly regarded writers in the field. The articles are composed of three types: Adventures (Roberts' own climbs and outings), Profiles (other adventurers), and Reflections (meditative essays about the meaning of the whole business). Roberts ranges the globe (Africa, Alaska, New Guinea) and introduces unique personalities (Reinhold Messner, John Roskelly, Don Sheldon). He also recounts how his own love of writing and the useless pastime of climbing combined to produce the bread and butter of his career today. Popular with audiences far beyond active mountaineers, Roberts sets himself this challenge: "For me, the abiding puzzle of adventure writing lies in keeping, on the one hand, a sense of proportion about the absurdity of most of our antics in the outdoors, while staying alert, on the other, to the majesty of spirit which at their best those antics demonstrate."
Self-Working Paper Magic
Put a little magic into your life. Karl Fulves, one of the best known writers in the field, shares tricks of the trade in this marvelous book -- over 80 foolproof, easy-to-perform paper miracles that anyone can master. You'll need nothing up your sleeve, no previous experience, no special dexterity to execute these seemingly impossible feats.Fulves' clear step-by-step directions and 367 instructive illustrations by Joseph K. Schmidt enable even beginning magicians to work wonders with paper. Now produce a mind-reading effect with file cards, make a piece of newspaper disappear, perform a routine in which paper rings link "magically." You'll find that a puzzling routine such as the "Magic Mailbox" (No. 4) works best as a close-up trick, while the "Japanese Checkers" illusion (No. 1) can be done as a showy stage effect.In tricks ranging from "telepath to teleportation," learn how to reveal serial numbers on spectators' bills (No. 10), solve a murder as the "Psychometric Detective" (No. 19), transport a cup of soda from inside a paper bag to a borrowed hat (No. 48), pass a pencil through a jacket (No. 54), cause a star to materialize (No. 72), and a hole punched in one piece of paper to migrate to another piece of paper (No. 74).With this helpful handbook at your fingertips, create paper animals that seem to come to life and perform magic tricks. Animated paper folds such as a charming rabbit that flaps its ears are a perennial source of fascination -- and can be made in seconds. The materials needed for these fascinating tricks range from single sheets of paper to bags, cups, and paperback books. Lightweight, inexpensive and portable, they pack flat, take up little space, and get big results!
Home Book of Taxidermy and Tanning
All the basics for successful taxidermy and tanning projects. Step-by-step instructions, fully illustrated.
Follow the Forage for Better Bass Angling
Larry Larsen's enjoyment of bass fishing has translated into writing about bass for 17 years. Throughout Better Bass Angling, the aspects of finding and catching bass are presented in an entertaining and informative style which has enlightened readers. This wealth of useful information should appeal to experienced and amateur anglers alike who want to learn more about their favorite fresh water sportfish.
Follow the Forage for Better Bass Angling
Whether you are an artificial lure caster or live bait angler, you will benefit from Better Bass Angling. Understanding the reasons behind lure or bait success will aid you in establishing highly productive, bass-catching patterns!
On Top of the World
* An astonishing tale of perseverance * Wonderful insight into 19th century Tibet * A moving tale of adventure and discovery In the late 1800's, when women were bound by both cumbersome clothing and strict Victorian morals, a small band of astonishing women explorers burst forth to claim the adventurous life. What drew the five profiled in this book -- three British, one American, one French -- was Tibet, then the ultimate in exploration. Nina Mazuchelli organized a small expedition, urging the party on when they were lost on a glacier. Annie Taylor, a reckless, romantic missionary in China, knew her life was in danger the moment she crossed into Tibet. Esabella Bird Bishop, sickly while at home, was always robust on her adventures; she was nearly 60 when she went to Tibet. Fanny Bullock Workman plowed her way up Himalaya and Karakoram mountains, saying any woman could do so. Alexandra David-Neel, at 56, trekked for eight months through tropical lowlands and snow-covered passes with only a backpack and a begging bowl. Even by today's standards these women's accomplishments are remarkable. This title is part of our LEGENDS AND LORE series. Click here > to learn more.
More Self-Working Card Tricks
Card magic has captivated man for many centuries. Today, it remains the most popular area of legerdemain, accounting for half of all tricks performed by magicians.Now Karl Fulves, noted writer in the field of magic, has compiled a new treasury of foolproof card tricks, the definitive sequel to his popular Self-Working Card Tricks. This book contains a wealth of new material -- captivating and baffling card wizardry that will amaze your audience and astonish even accomplished magicians.Fulves shows you how to perform such classic card maneuvers as Miraskil, The Open Prediction, Flip Top and The Jaks Two-Deck Trick. Clear, easy-to-follow directions, complemented by 96 instructive illustrations, help guide the novice through each trick.Chapters on special areas of card magic and technique include: Impromptu Card Tricks; Two-Deck Card Tricks; Telephone Tricks; Telepathy with Cards; Riffle-Shuffle Setups; and Gambling Secrets.Neither great dexterity nor long hours of practice are required to master tricks offered in this collection -- all succeed instantly by virtue of the step-by-step instructions.Discover how this rich assortment of self-working tricks will mystify and delight friends and relatives -- anyone intrigued by the ancient appeal of "card magic."
Walking With Spring
In April 1948, the 11-year-old Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia was pretty much a wreck: Volunteer maintainers who hadn't been called to combat couldn't get rationed gasoline to get out there to keep it clear. In April 1948, so, pretty much, was Earl Shaffer, self-dubbed The Crazy One. He had come home from war in the Pacific where he had lost the dearest friend of his life. He needed to walk it off, and he did with the most primitive of gear. In four months, he walked with the merging spring from Georgia to Maine, bushwhacking to find the route more often than not-becoming the first to report a complete, single-journey trek on this footpath of more than 2,000 miles. More than 7,000 have since followed in his footsteps. These reflections on and from his first of three thru-hikes are often lyrical, full of history and local legend and his own quiet insights on life in the woods in a much different era all around.
Self-Working Number Magic
Numbers pervade nearly every aspect of our daily lives: telephone numbers, zip codes, Social Security numbers, driver's license and credit-card numbers. We are beleaguered by numbers: no wonder we're fascinated, intrigued, even a bit bewildered by them; no wonder tricks involving numbers are perennial favorites.With Self-Working Number Magic you can perform show-stopping tricks, stunts and routines that are sure to delight audiences because they capitalize on our natural fascination for numbers. Karl Fulves, well-known writer in the field of magic presents 101 baffling tricks that are so easy to do they practically work by themselves. While all the tricks involve basic mathematical principles, the mathematics is not discussed here; rather, emphasis is on performing and perfecting the tricks. They can be learned quickly and put into operation immediately, and best of all, they really dazzle an audience.Among the seemingly impossible tricks and stunts in this book: guessing a spectator's age or how long a married couple have known each other; predicting the sum of a group of numbers and using your brain like a lightning calculator; and instantly memorizing long lists of numbers or things. This selection also includes tricks involving cards, calendars, magic squares, and betting games. The author even suggests stage patter to use while performing.With this book and a modicum of practice, anyone can perform an assortment of number tricks that will astound and delight an audience. Whatever your age or math skills, you'll soon be baffling friends and relatives with over 100 fascinating, foolproof tricks.
Always Stand in Against the Curve, and Other Sports Stories
Willie Morris's collection of sports stories, Always Stand In Against The Curve, is a book for those of us lucky enough to have shot baskets under a driveway or shagged fly balls in open fields until it was too dark to see the hoop or the ball against the sky. In Morris's soulful point of view, sports is about growing up in America, radio broadcasts of the Brooklyn Dodgers in a Mississippi country store, girls with double names, practical jokes, small town coaches, the hold the past has on us, about running effortlessly in the sun. The novella, "The Fumble," is a sports classic about high school football in the Deep South. Set in the 1950s it describes a confrontation of mythic proportions between a small town football team from the "Delta" and the omnipotent Central High Tigers of Jackson, Mississippi. Each of the six autobiographical essays in this book form chapters of a Great American boyhood, beginning with Morris's farewells to high school and to American legion baseball, a road trip to Notre Dame with "Bevo," the University of Texas longhorn steer mascot, Rhodes scholars playing basketball in England, a writers-and-artists softball game in East Hampton, New York, in which the author admits he is too old to run the bases, and finally a journey back to Austin, Texas, in search of the past. To Willie Morris, sports are a gentle center in the eye of the storm, a clean world of instinct and action where one can work out the bruises of living, where the rituals of youth teach valuable lessons about winning and losing, about heroes and disillusionment, about finding a way to face the world.
Practical Mental Magic
Mind reading, thought transmission, prophecy, miracle slate routines, and other "psychic" effects are among the most impressive tricks in any magician's repertoire. Their power to amaze and dumbfound an audience is unparalleled in the domain of stage magic. In this volume, one of the greatest of all mental magicians reveals the secrets behind nearly 200 astonishing feats of mental magic.The routines encompass 12 major categories: Effects with Billets and Pellets; Envelope Necromancy; Publicity Effects; Miracle Slate Routines; Dead or Alive; Money Mentalism; Book Tests; Blindfold Reading; Thought Foretold; Mentalism with Cards; Miscellaneous Mental Masterpieces; and Psychic Codes.Theodore Annemann, through his own performances and editorship of Jinx magazine, probably did more than anyone else to popularize this branch of entertainment. Now, his extensive knowledge, experience, and know-how are at your fingertips in this comprehensive collection. Here are the closely guarded tricks of the trade behind such astonishing effects as Pseudo-Psychometry, one of the greatest one-man psychic effects ever achieved; Who Killed Mr. X? -- a classic routine that combines both magic and mind reading with a triple mystery and a novel presentation; and The Swami Test, a demonstration of prophecy first popularized around 1920. Annemann himself came up with some 16 variations on this popular and much-practiced effect. My Own Swami Test is one of his best.These and scores of other crowd-pleasers are here, each thoroughly explained and diagrammed, with insiders' tips on techniques, staging, patter, plants and confederates, diversions -- everything you need to make any trick a foolproof success. No special equipment is required; just traditional magic props and a willingness to learn from one of magic's legendary figures. Although written for professional magicians, the step-by-step detail, clarity and inclusiveness of this collection, along with the author's intimate knowledge of the stage performer's needs, make this a volume that will benefit magicians at every level of expertise.
Self-Working Table Magic
The quickest, most certain path toward achieving a reputation as a magician is to be able to perform at a moment's notice with borrowed objects. If you are handed a coin, handkerchief, pencil, or rubber band, you should be able to do at least one amazing trick with that object. This book deals exclusively with just such tricks. It is a collection of some of the best tricks with ordinary objects.The approach throughout the book is simple. No unusual dexterity, gimmicks, or special sleights are required. The only props needed are simple, everyday objects -- eggs, cards, dice, rubber bands, balloons, apples, whisk brooms, etc. Nor are long hours of practice necessary. Step-by-step instructions and over 180 helpful illustrations insure quick and effective mastery of each trick. Nearly 100 tricks in 10 categories include Money Magic, Elastic Illusions, Magic Show in a Matchbox, Hanky Panky, Dice Dexterity, Close-up Illusions, Conjuror's Collection, The Linking Pins, Psychic Tricks, and Pen-Ultimate MagicSome chapters have been designed to provide the reader with a complete act of close-up magic. For example, the chapter entitled "Magic Show in a Matchbox," gives you about 15 minutes of excellent tricks and stunts to amaze and amuse your audience. Master the tricks in this book and you will be ready to entertain anytime, anywhere, with some of the finest of all close-up mysteries.Karl Fulves, one of the most renowned modern writers in the field of magic, has selected these tricks from both old and new magic stunts. Some are classic feats of time-tested wizardry, while others are new and inventive techniques. All, however, are easy-to-learn, foolproof routines that will enable you to dazzle and delight your audience.
Death in the Silent Places
From the master of adventure behind the classic Death in the Long Grass, former big-game hunter Peter Hathaway Capstick now turns from his own exploits to those of some of the greatest hunters of the past with Death in the Silent Places. With his characteristic color and flair, Capstick recalls the extraordinary careers of men like Colonel J.H. Patterson and Colonel Jim Corbett, who stalked legendary man-eaters through the silent darkness on opposite sides of the world; men like Karamojo Bell, acknowledged as the greatest elephant hunter of all time; men like the valiant Sasha Siemel, who tracked killer jaguars though the Matto Grosso armed only with a spear. With an authenticity gained by having shared the experiences he writes of, Capstick eloquently recreates the acrid taste of terror in the mouth of a man whose gun has jammed as a lion begins his charge, the exhilaration of tracking and finding a long-sought prey, the bravery and even nobility of performing under circumstances of primitive and savage stress, with death all around in the silent places of the wilderness.
Sleight of Hand
"If ever there were a more classic tome for beginners of general sleight of hand, I am not sure what it is. This book has been around for 131 years, has stood the test of time and is now considered a standard/must-have book for beginners. Even intermediate and professional magicians can find things and information of use in this book. 5 stars." -- My Lovely AssistantLet's say you are at a dinner party and are invited to perform a trick. You have no apparatus on you, nothing prepared. In an absent manner, you place a glass of sherry to your lips, as though bracing yourself for the fray. The glass is half emptied (be careful about this), when a sudden movement is made as though you threw it up to the ceiling; but nothing is seen to ascend, though the glass, with the wine in it, has disappeared. After a short pause, to allow the general astonishment to take full effect, the missing article is discovered inside the coat of your immediate neighbor, with the wine in it unspilt.How is this startling trick performed? Find out in this legendary classic of legerdemain, Sleight of Hand, widely regarded by professional magicians as one of the finest magic books ever written. Clearly and minutely, the steps are given for hundreds of astonishing tricks: drawing-room tricks with coins, common objects, cups and balls, handkerchiefs, and so on, including many fascinating card tricks -- The Congenial Aces, The Traveling Cards, The Assembly, etc.; and stage magic, encompassing the more involved tricks with coins, handkerchiefs and cards, and tricks with watches and livestock, sham mesmerism and clairvoyance, the famous Cornucopian Hat, and an impressive array of miscellaneous tricks -- Houdini's Die Trick, The Ubiquitous Glass of Water, The Shower of Gold, The Chinese Rings, The Magic Omelette, The Great Dictionary Trick, and more.Be assured that sleight of hand relies primarily on dexterity, not apparatus. And if you are truly interested in magic, you must eventually master sleight-of-hand techniques or give up the idea of being anything more than a beginning magician. These techniques, both basic and more advanced, are all here -- in the best book on the subject that you could possibly own.
Self-Working Mental Magic
"An excellent introduction to mentalism and mental magic. It covers a broad range of mentalism methods, tools, and techniques. Also, each chapter moves at a good progression from the simplest to the most advanced. Yet even the most advanced stuff is not beyond the reach of beginner." -- Magic ReviewedKarl Fulves, one of the most renowned modern writers in the field of magic, presents 67 new and foolproof tricks -- spectacular mental feats that seem impossible but are easy to perform. None of the tricks requires long practice, supernormal dexterity, or complicated apparatus. Mr. Fulves' precise, easy-to-follow instruction and many helpful diagrams lead to quick mastery and effective performance of each. Perform mystifying mental magic in such categories as Instant ESP Psychic Secrets, Slate Sorcery, Mind Reading with Cards, Mind over Matter, Miracles with Cards, Book Tests, and Psychometry.Many of these tricks can be done with no prior preparation, and all involve easy-to-find materials: a deck of cards, coins, matches, dice, keys, chalk, etc. But while the materials are ordinary, the effects are truly extraordinary. Magicians who wish to add mental acts to their routines, party entertainers, or anyone wishing to give an amazing performance of mental magic will find this book perfect for their needs.
Death in the Long Grass
As thrilling as any novel, as taut and exciting as any adventure story, Peter Hathaway Capstick's Death in the Long Grass takes us deep into the heart of darkness to view Africa through the eyes of one of the most renowned professional hunters. Few men can say they have known Africa as Capstick has known it--leading safaris through lion country; tracking man-eating leopards along tangled jungle paths; running for cover as fear-maddened elephants stampede in all directions. And of the few who have known this dangerous way of life, fewer still can recount their adventures with the flair of this former professional hunter-turned-writer. Based on Capstick's own experiences and the personal accounts of his colleagues, Death in the Long Grass portrays the great killers of the African bush--not only the lion, leopard, and elephant, but the primitive rhino and the crocodile waiting for its unsuspecting prey, the titanic hippo and the Cape buffalo charging like an express train out of control. Capstick was a born raconteur whose colorful descriptions and eye for exciting, authentic detail bring us face to face with some of the most ferocious killers in the world--underrated killers like the surprisingly brave and cunning hyena, silent killers such as the lightning-fast black mamba snake, collective killers like the wild dog. Readers can lean back in a chair, sip a tall, iced drink, and revel in the kinds of hunting stories Hemingway and Ruark used to hear in hotel bars from Nairobi to Johannesburg, as veteran hunters would tell of what they heard beyond the campfire and saw through the sights of an express rifle.
Self-Working Card Tricks
What is a self-working card trick? A trick that does not depend upon legerdemain or special abilities on the part of the magician, but a trick that works automatically because of the mathematics inherent in the card deck itself. Long practice and supernormal dexterity are not needed to perform these tricks, yet they are often among the most entertaining and most spectacular of all card tricks.Some of these sure-fire tricks are simple, a good place to begin. Others were specially adapted from professional routines and are here presented for the first time for amateurs. Almost all of these tricks can be worked informally, with a borrowed deck of cards. Some also adapt to stage presentation.Individual tricks in this book have sold for more than the price of the entire book. Amateurs can use them to get a start in magic and to feel, at once, the rewards of giving a professional performance. Advanced and professional magicians will find tricks to add to their acts or informal routines. Author Karl Fulves is one of the best-known writers and editors in the field of magic.
Expert Card Technique
If you have ever tried to do a card trick and failed, you know what it is to be embarrassed. You may try to cover up by doing a more difficult trick and fail again. The way out of this dilemma, however, is not immediate, but it is reliable: a surer mastery of technique. This means the proper instruction book, and practice.In this definitive work on card technique, step-by-step instructions teach you the correct methods for the basic manipulations and the more advanced flourishes, and only then allow you to learn tricks. Offering the most foolproof methods available, Jean Hugard and Fredrick Braue explain such basic manipulations as the palm, the shuffle, the lift, the side slip, the pass, the glimpse, the jog, and the reverse. They detail various false deals, crimps, and changes and the more advanced execution needed for forces, fans, and the use of the prearranged deck. Also presented is a wide variety of tricks, including discoveries, self-working tricks, one-handed tricks, stranger cards, and such individually famous tricks as the four aces, the rising cards, and the Zingone spread. In addition, the authors include a complete compendium of shakedown sleights -- to warn the card player and aid the entertainer -- and a performer's guide to misdirection and patter.Many of the methods explained were revealed here for the first time, while many previously known tricks are presented in improved versions. In every case the aim is simplicity of technique for the purpose of mystifying an audience, not technique for the sake of technique. An unsurpassed collection of methods and manipulations, this classic work will help any aspiring magician to achieve expert card technique.
Card Tricks and Stunts
Jean Hugard, besides being a master performer, was also one of the twentieth century's most gifted writers on magic. Through his writing he brought the literature on magic up to a new professional level. This book, continuing the carefully worked out descriptions begun in Card Manipulations, adds another 120 flourishes, sleights, tricks, and manipulations to the magician's repertory. Among the many manipulations and sleights are forces, passes, glides, color changes, top and bottom changes, the Herrmann pass, the "Cottone" snap production, the Grote instantaneous palm, theCarlyle false count, double lifts, false cuts, controls, shuffles, andmuch more. Tricks using these manipulations include story tricks, spelling and counting tricks, tricks for small audiences, tricks, used inthe professional acts of such magicians as Frederick Braue, R. M.Jamison, Paul Curry, Walsh and Haber, and Joseph Cottone, and tricksperfected or first described by Hugard.For each manipulation, sleight or trick, the author first describes theeffect to be produced. Then, in a combination of clear, detaileddescriptions and drawings, he tells the exact method needed toachieve the desired effect. Cross-references to manipulations andother advanced methods make them available even to beginners.Alternate methods, tips, histories, and a careful analysis of possibletrouble spots make it easy to develop the tricks for a perfect performance.The keys to these tricks and manipulations are not well known outsideprofessional magicians' groups. But to the advanced beginner orsemi-professional who has some degree of card skill, the manipulationsand tricks, expertly described here by Hugard, will add to thedexterity of the performance, give hours of rigorous skill-developingpractice, and help build a professional well-rounded repertoire withcards.
Boomerangs
"Easy to follow instructions help the reader successfully make and throw their own boomerang out of materials found fairly easily in most areas of the country. A truly fascinating read." -- Texas Kitchen and Garden and MoreIt only takes minutes to make a good, guaranteed-to-return boomerang. By following a few more simple steps you will learn how to throw it so it will always return to you. Soon you will be in possession of a new hobby, experimenting with many types of boomerangs, flying them in new tricks and stunts, achieving a degree of accuracy and excitement that will give you pleasure whether you are young or old, whether it is your first boomerang or your fiftieth.This is the outstanding book on boomerangs. While a certain amount of the information is drawn from native methods, most is composed of new designs by Bernard Mason that are easy to make, easy to throw, safe, and full of possibilities. There are the standards -- cross-stick boomerangs ranging in size from fourteen inches to three feet. There are pin-wheel boomerangs, undoubtedly the best flyers. There are boomabirds, boomerangs in bird shapes, airplane shapes, and other ornamentals with a wealth of strange flight patterns. There are tumblesticks, boomerangs that look like nothing but simple straight sticks -- until you throw them. There are boomerangs you can make from cardboard. And there are the curved stick boomerangs from Australia. In each section there are examples of the best flyers, plus others -- largest, smallest, jumpers, fast flyers, smooth flyers, and many more.Since, as the author says, each boomerang possesses its own unique character, there is always the feeling of magic each time a new one is made and thrown. With this book you can learn to make nearly every type of known boomerang, learn to fly them, and add a new area of skill and recreation to your life.
Encyclopedia of Card Tricks
In the first decades of the twentieth century magicians filled the magic journals with articles on card tricks, giving improvements on classic tricks and inventing new ones. If you could put together a collection of these magazines you would have almost a complete course on card tricks, by some of the world's greatest magicians. But where could you find these journals now that they are probably collector's items? And even if you could find them, how much would such a collection cost? Not very much. Because all the best of these tricks are available in this one monumental book, containing nearly every practical card trick produced, invented, and improved by magicians over a span of forty years and more. A truly staggering collection, this book explains how to perform over 600 professional card tricks: impromptu card tricks, spelling tricks, "you do as I do" tricks, diachylon (a paste for gluing cards together) tricks, calculation tricks; tricks using key cards, slick cards, double-backed cards, reversed cards, short cards; tricks based on a one-way pack, prearranged pack, Svengali pack, Mene-Tekel pack, stripper pack; special packs; miscellaneous tricks including Everywhere and Nowhere, The Case of the Four Kings, Card in the Orange, The Buddha Whispers, and Inseparable Aces; and a final chapter on tricks using the famous Nikola Card System. In addition, a chapter on technique explains the most important sleights ― the overhand shuffle, riffle shuffle, false cut, palm, simple pass, double lift, glide, and force. Based on a volume compiled by Dr. Wilhelm Von Deusen and Glenn G. Gravatt, this collection was thoroughly revised by Jean Hugard and completely rewritten. It is easily the finest single compendium of classic card tricks, and the clear style makes the instructions easy to follow. An indispensable book for the professional or amateur magician, it is a magnificent source for anyone who wants just the right tricks to mystify his friends or delight his children.
Card Manipulations
To the magician and to most audiences, card manipulations are the most fascinating type of card trick. Since the manipulator's skill is the only determining factor, once a degree of card dexterity is acquired the performer can go on to learn tricks sure to entertain, at any time, with no further preparation, using any available deck of cards for the performance. In this five-book series, Jean Hugard, master performer on stage and with small groups, teaches the passes, palming methods, shuffles, arm spreads, color reverses, sleights, flourishes, set-ups, and tricks in the best professional versions. After showing the basic manipulations, he develops a number of exceptional tricks where the manipulations are used. A number of illustrations and step-by-step explanations teach each detail as the trick would be given in a performance. By working through these tricks, from the simple to the complex, the magician learns his skills in a professional manner and also gains a wide repertoire of specific tricks. Throughout the book a great number of manipulations and over a hundred tricks are explained. The keys to these tricks are not well known outside professional magicians' groups. But to the advanced beginner or semiprofessional who has some degree of card skill, the manipulations and tricks developed in this book will add to the dexterity of the performance, give hours of rigorous skill-developing practice, and help build a professional, well-rounded repertoire with cards. "Recommended." -- Linking Ring.
The Secrets of Houdini
World-famous illusionist, master deluder, showman: Harry Houdini was one of the most legendary figures of the modern stage, and probably the most legendary and misunderstood magician of all time. Exposing his closely kept professional secrets, and revealing in general terms the whole art of stage magic, this book is now considered the classic study of Houdini's strange deceptions. A professional magician and friend of Houdini, Cannell rationally explains how the master escaped bank vaults, walked through brick walls, floated women in mid-air, read minds, and much more. All of these are discussed in clear, simple language, and for better understanding, the author includes numerous line drawings of Houdini's ingenious escape devices, with diagrams of the more complicated tricks. Twenty-four photographs have been added to the 23 from the original edition.
Woodcraft and Camping
One of America's most famous woodsmen and nature experts provides classic instructions for roughing it. His advice covers camping, hiking, building a fire, cooking out, shelters, tools and equipment, hunting and fishing, canoeing, and more. "Useful, specific information and suggestions on all aspects of woodcraft." -- Moor and Mountain.
Houdini on Magic
Harry Houdini's fame is secure as the greatest magician of modern times. Many of his fabulous escapes, indeed, now sound more like legend than history, yet they really happened. He permitted himself to be thrown, manacled, into the Hudson River; to be nailed into packing cases and lowered into the ocean; to be suspended by the ankles, strait-jacketed, hundreds of feet above the ground -- and in every case escaped easily.This book is Houdini's own account of these exploits, supplemented with rare photographs and posters, first-hand material from periodicals and pamphlets, and behind-the-scenes revelations of some of the master's most prized secrets: how he picked locks, how he sawed a girl in half to become twins, how he walked through a brick wall, how a girl can vanish from a sheet of plate glass without trapdoors, hoists, mirrors, or other such apparatus.There are also instructions for performing 44 stage tricks, including the coin and glass, the Indian needle trick, and other standards. These are illustrated with diagram sequences that cover every step in performance. Finally, of special interest to many readers are Houdini's accounts of great magicians of history and of Houdini's own battles with spiritualists and fraudulent mediums.
