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John Kokot New user 96 Posts |
Listed below,by era, are arbitrary (maybe even capricious) nominations for the most “essential” (however you want to define that term) books on card magic. There are admittedly notable omissions (Tamariz and Vernon’s “Revelation,” are two examples that come to mind).
In an effort to refine and enhance this list without making it interminable, you are invited to nominate substitutions for any title on the list. Because your nominees constitute substitutions rather than additions, for each book you wish to include on the list, you must eliminate one of the books listed. For example, if you want to include Juan Tamariz’s “Sonata” (1989), you would have to delete one of 16 titles in the category “Late 20th Century.” Without the "substitution" requirement, the fear is that the list would become endless. Enjoy. Turn of the 20th Century: Sachs, Sleight of Hand, 1877. Roterberg, New Era Card Tricks, 1897. Erdnase, The Expert at the Card Table, 1902. Fischer, J.N. Hofzinser’s Card Conjuring, 1910. Early 20th Century: Hugard, Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, 1937. Hilliard, Greater Magic, 1938 Buckley, Card Control, 1946. Buckley, Principles and Deceptions, 1948. Hugard and Braue, The Royal Road to Card Magic, 1948. LePaul, The Card Magic of LePaul, 1949. Hugard and Braue, Expert Card Technique (3rd Edition), 1950. Marlo, The Cardician, 1953. Mid 20th Century: Marlo, Revolutionary Card Technique (1954-1962). Ganson, Dai Vernon’s Inner Secrets of Card Magic, 1959. Ganson, Dai Vernon’s Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic, 1959. Ganson, Dai Vernon’s More Inner Secrets of Card Magic, 1960. Marlo, M.I.N.T., Collected from 1961-1994. Lorayne, Close-Up Card Magic, 1962. Ganson, Dai Vernon’s Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic, 1967. Fulves, The Pallbearers Review, 1965-1975. Fulves, Epilogue, 1967-1976. Garcia, Million Dollar Card Secrets, 1972. Garcia, Super Subtle Card Miracles, 1973. Hall, The Card Magic of Edward G. Brown, 1973 Late 20th Century: Kaufman, The Complete Works of Derek Dingle, 1982. Lorayne, Best of Friends, 1982. Lorayne, Best of Friends II, 1985. Maxwell, The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings, 1986. Maxwell, The Commercial Magic of J.C. Wagner, 1987 Ortiz, Darwin Ortiz at the Card Table, 1988. Kaufman, The Secrets of Brother John Hamman, 1989. Ortiz, The Annotated Erdnase, 1991. Swain, Don’t Blink, 1992. Minch, By Forces Unseen, 1993. Ortiz, Cardshark, 1995. Giobbi, Card College: Volumes 1-5, 1996-2003. Cummins, From a shuffled Deck in Use, 1996. Swain, Miracles with Cards, 1996. Swain, 21st Century Card Magic, 1999 Hollingworth, Drawing Room Deceptions, 1999. 21st Century: Aronson, Try the Impossible, 2001 Cummins, FASDIU II, 2002 Ortiz, Scams and Fantasies with Cards, 2002. Minch, Gary Plants on the Zarrow Shuffle, 2004. James, Enchantments, 2004. Etcheverry, The Magic of Ascanio: The Stuctural Conception of Magic, 2005. Etcheverry, The Magic of Ascanio: Studies of Card Magic, 2006. Behr, Handcrafted Card Magic, 2007. Etcheverry, The Magic of Ascanio, More Studies of Card Magic, 2008. Duffie, The Card Magic of Fred Robinson, 2009. Behr, Handcrafted Card Magic 2, 2011. |
Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts |
Well, I would knock out The Annotated Erdnase. Yes it is an important book, but, is the Darwin Ortiz annotation essential? I would offer that while it is important, it is noit essential to understanding Erdnase. I think your list is a cool idea but I also notice that sleight of hand card magic is heavily privileged. So, with those two reasons in mind I would substitute The Annotated Erdnase for The Card Magic of Nick Trost.
What about books that span eras? I realize that your cut off points are somewhat arbitrary and that's fine. But, there has to be a way to fit in Stewart James in Print and The James File. So, for the James File I would substitute the Gary Plants book. I hasten to add that I think Mr. Plants' treatise on the Zarrow is valuable, but again, is it essential? You have listed Wes;ley James' Enchantments which is a fine book and contains wonderful work on the Zarrow. Again, I think that this list, if it is going to list essential works, should also include books and authors whose focus relied more on subtlety than sleights. So ..... The James File substitutes Gary Plants on the Zarrow Shuffle For mid-20th Century, I would substitute M.I.N.T. for Stewart James in Print: The First Fifty Years. Marlo is already well represented on your list and I would argue that even though Stewart James was not a proponent of pure sleight of hand magic with cards, his work is every bit as essential as thart of Marlo - and Vernon for that matter. M.I.N.T. I would argue is only essential in that it is Marlo's material culled from The New Tops which is readily available in its entirety on DVD from Todd Karr's Miracle Factory. Revolutionary Card Technique and The Cardician are eseential works but I cannot say the same for M.I.N.T. given that it's a compilation. Namaste, Vlad PS: I am curious as to why certain periodicals are considered essential and others not. You could create a separate category for periodicals and free up space for a few more books. Apocalypse and Pabular for instance are conspicuous by their absence. The Sphinx definitely deserves to be on that list as does The Jinx, Phoenix, and Hugard's Magic Monthly among others. So perhaps a separate list for essential periodicals? |
John Kokot New user 96 Posts |
Thank you, Vlad, for giving some thought to this post. As is always the case, your comments were informed and erudite. I agree with you on almost all counts. I would, however, quibble with your verdict on Darwin Ortiz's "The Annotated Erdnase." While you are correct in noting that it's not essential to understanding Erdnase, Ortiz's notes and commentary provide a valuable de facto history of 20th Century card magic.
I compiled my nominations on a whim one day when I had more time than sense on my hands, so I've had a number of second thoughts myself. While the cumbersome nature of the nominating process (to add, you need to delete) obviously contributed to the post's underwhelming response, some of my idiosyncratic choices (J.C. Wagner, Gary Plants, Wesley James, Fred Robinson) undoubtedly also undermined the credibility of the survey. As Vlad noted, one of the most conspicuous areas of neglect was non sleight-of-hand card magic. I expected the omission of Stewart James and Nick Trost to raise eyesbrows, especially because of the current popularity of Woody Aragon and others from the Spanish school. That I left them off says more about my myopia than their shortcomings. I am a philistine when it comes to this type of card magic. For me, it's equivalent to preferring hard-boiled detective fiction (Chandler, Hammett) to police procedurals. I have a similar astigmatism when it comes to the card-at-any-number plot that ushered in the beginning of the 21st Century. But perhaps my most egregious omission was the memorized deck literature. Plants and Wesley James were included because the Zarrow shuffle may be the most important sleight to emerge in the last Century. If I were consistent in this regard, I should have included the Herb Zarrow book, too. In fairness to Vlad, his reasoning behind excluding Plants and Wesley James are certainly as strong as mine are for including them. As for Marlo's M.I.N.T., it could be removed without doing damage to the list or to Mr. Marlo. In the "Turn of 20th Century" category, I was surprised that there were no champions of Charles T. Jordan. I'm only familiar with his "Thirty Card Mysteries" (1919), but his name frequently pops up in the literature. As does Doc Elliott's name. Elliott and Jordan aficionados are encouraged to offer guidance. The words "arbitrary" and "capricious" introduced my initial post. These terms are being summoned in defending the exclusion of a number of periodicals. If I were forced to rely on a more substantive defense for listing "Pallbearers" and "Epilogue" but not "Hugard's" or "The Sphinx," I would argue that they were more ground breaking than the others when it came to advanced sleight of hand with playing cards. Which brings us back to the rationale for the "add-delete" rule. My goal was an essential list -- not an exhaustive one. |
duanebarry Special user 883 Posts |
"Essential rather than exhaustive" might suggest taking The Essential Stewart James over both Stewart James In Print and The James File, since it would include James' strongest contributions and open up a spot for, say, Tamariz' Mnemonica to be added.
Do we need the complete James Swain beyond Miracles With Cards? How about dropping two of the 3 Swains and adding Bannon's Impossibilia and Curry's Worlds Beyond? By Forces Unseen sort of stands apart as its own isolated, esoteric island that people sometimes visit, but it's not really in strong dialogue and commerce with the rest of card magic society. Since the ACAAN plot obsessed card magicians for a full decade, I'd suggest replacing By Forces Unseen with The Berglas Effects. |
John Kokot New user 96 Posts |
Perceptive comment about "By Forces Unseen". "Not really in strong dialogue and commerce" is an apt description.
If enough people respond to provide an adequate sample, the adds and deletes could be totaled, and a revised list issued. Because I'm merely a dilettante when it comes to card magic history, it would be revelatory to hear from the genre's experts. (See the footnotes in Denis Behr's books, or Stephen Minch's "From Witchcraft to Card Tricks," for examples of the kind of knowledge sought). |
Vlad_77 Inner circle The Netherlands 5829 Posts |
Hi John,
Thanks for the kind words. I should clarify: I had meant to write that since Enchantments has very nice work on the Zarrow, the Plants book - which IS excellent - might be gilding the lily. Mr. Plants' booklet is focused on the Zarrow exclusively, while Wesley James' Enchantments discusses and explores many different effects and sleights so I my vote for it is based upon the quantity of quality material. I am a Charles Jordan fan and I feel rather stupid for not suggesting his work. Karl Fulves' book Charles Jordan's Best Card Tricks is a great resource as is Jordan's own Thirty Card Mysteries. The Café's own Hideo Kato has done exhaustive work on Jordan and I THINK he is/was working on a Jordan book. Hopefully he will see this thread and chime in. Duaneberry I agree with you re Earick, but I felt it should be left on the list because it is so esoteric. Ibidem was out of the mainstream as was Epilogue yet both became very influential works. Of course, the same could be said of Jerry Andrus' work. Many have criticized Andrus or rather his work stating that only Andrus could do his own stuff. I have seen evidence to the contrary. Paul Gallagher - a great car guy who has done work for Paul Harris - and Buck Bressler of IllusionsMagic both perform Andrus material flawlessly. Buck did the Panoramic Shift and I didn't see a thing!! Still, I love your approach John in that it really asks us to give careful consideration to books within a constrained framework. That said, I still woukld argue that a separate list should be made for magic periodicals. Chronologically (roughly because of overlap)) the following periodicals would be essential IMHO: Mahatma The Sphinx (US) and The Magic Wand (UK) The Jinx Phoenix Hugard's Magic Monthly (US) and The Gen (UK) The Pallbearer's Review and the sequel Chronicles Apocalypse Richard's Almanac The Magic Menu Obviously there are many more and I have not categorized as neatly as you have. I just feel that periodicals while employing the same medium - print - have a different focus than monographs. Great thread John! |
Atom3339 Inner circle Spokane, WA 3242 Posts |
Who is this author Era? And why haven't I heard of him?
Could he....? Might he......? Be.....ERdnAse? dAi vERnon? hARry loraynE? jon RAchERbAumEr? scARnE? Possibly someone who has written throughout various long and distinct time periods? The mystery continues.
TH
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kwatts2 New user 2 Posts |
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Steve Burton Loyal user 258 Posts |
The Complete Illustrated Book of Card Magic, Walter Gibson, 1969. My guess is that book was in nearly every library in the United States in the early '70s. Lack of crediting aside, it was an extremely informative overview of card magic in general with lots of great photographs of the author's hands doing the sleights.
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