Does anyone know if there are any Public Domain Books on Mentalism on the Internet?

Yes, there are. You can go to the Learned Pig Project http://www.thelearnedpig.com.pa/. Now you can get Practical Mindreading (Atkinson) for no money at all.
hjelm
sweden

Who are you "netartifacts", and why are you asking?

And to 'hjelm', whom I do know; Hi!

What in the wide world is thatweb site all about all about???!!

I joined it about a year ago. You have to pass a very simple membership test to log in. Then, apparently, you have access to all these free books. (BTW, I joined on the assumption that they genuinely do have the permission they claim to publish these books free)

I tried getting the Annemann 200 Methods of Forcing, but it's in a very unfriendly format that means you couldn't just download it to read offline or print neatly.

Then, my login stopped working and the site wouldn't answer my email queries as to why. I still can't get in, and I don't think I'll waste time chasing them.

Briefly, I wouldn't bother if I were you.

The reason your login information stopped working was that the login information changed for everyone. Everyone now uses the same simple username and password. You should have gotten an e-mail at some time telling you about it.

It sounds incredible that all that information is out in a public domain for free download.
it worries me a bit.
I wonder who stands behind this, and why this web site is established in the first place.
Who would give away valueable material as this for free?

The man behind it all is named Marco. And as you say, this information *is* public domain. But it isn't free for all to download, as you do have to fill in an application and apply to the site. And the application is not automatically processed, Marko does sit down and review each application himself, which is part of the reason applications take so long to be processed (the other being that he is often traveling and performing).

Marco, who runs the site, is a professional performer. He's not only very talented, but he is a very decent fellow.

A few years ago he began collecting and converting into electronic format magic texts that fell out of copyright and called it The Learned Pig Project.

He doesn't charge for access, but does restrict membership for obvious reasons.

He has two compilation CDs available for sale to those who wish to own a copy, but the contents remain free to view online. Aside from his own copyright (which he's allowed for his version of the texts) you are free to read until your eyes bleed.

I know this strikes some people as odd, but there's no catch. I am happy to stand up for Marco and his wonderful site.

John LeBlanc
Houston, TX

Pewh...!! Guess I am more relieved now
I almost fell off my chair when I saw this.
Thanks for the information!

Sven