Card Through Window (Book)

The CTW document is a 20 page manuscript describing in very fine detail how to construct the clever gimmicks which will allow you to perform the classic Card through Window effect using 'desktop technology' (scissors, tape, glue, etc.) and materials included with this booklet.

Each step of the process is very easy to follow thanks to clear and concise text, assembly diagrams and cutting templates, making the construction of the gimmicks simple and straight forward.

Effect 1: A spectator selects a card from a deck. A corner is torn from the card and given to the spectator as a receipt. The magician claims he will make the card completely disappear and, after some by-play does exactly that! "Do you know where it went?" he asks. The spectators confess that they do not. "Look over there, do you see what's taped to that window?" The spectator turns around to find their selection taped firmly to a nearby window, the corner receipt matches perfectly! "That's pretty weird how I made your card appear there isn't it?" The spectator agrees. "I'll show you what's even weirder though." The magician passes a fan of cards over the selection and it very visually jumps right through the window! The tape is removed and the spectator can remove the card from the other side of the glass! The corner still matches perfectly!

Effect 2: A spectator selects a card from a deck. A corner is torn from the card and given to the spectator as a receipt. The card is placed face up into the middle of the deck, the deck is bound with a rubber band and the spectator holds it between her palms. The magician leads the spectator to a nearby window where a small 'curtain' bearing a large question mark is seen.

He explains that earlier on in the day he taped a playing card on to the window as a prediction, the tape is seen to be protruding from either side of the curtain. After a suitable build up the magician lifts the curtain and a card matching the spectator's selection is seen to be taped firmly to the window. The magician points out that his prediction card also has a corner missing and asks the spectator to go through the deck and find his face up selection. The spectator finds that his selection is gone! The corner receipt is compared to the card on the window and they are seen to be a perfect match! Here comes the best part:

The magician passes a fan of cards over the selection and it very visually jumps right through the window! The curtain is removed and the spectator can remove the tape and the card, which really is on the other side of the glass, and everything is examinable. The corner still matches!

Price: £18

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is it possible that some of magic's most sacred axioms such as "never repeat a trick" and "never tell an audience what you're going to do" may ultimately be responsible for the huge amount of mediocre magic that abounds?

What is magic's biggest lie?

These are just a few of the topics that Richard Osterlind tackles in what may be his most passionate argument yet for a return to the fundamental principles that once made conjuring one of the most respected of the performing arts. Over the years, these principles have become misinterpreted, misunderstood or largely ignored, resulting in magic's unfortunate and undeserving loss of its rightful place in the public's estimation. The Principles of Magic is Richard Osterlind's warning flag that, as performers, we have to change many of our approaches and attitudes before it's too late and magic vanishes forever.

As a bonus, Richard offers "Inside The Fold," one of the strongest openers possible for a magic or mentalism program. It's a surefire way to gain the respect and attention of any audience immediately.

More than just a reasoned appeal to mystery performers everywhere to once again lift magic to its highest artistic potential, The Principles of Magic is about rediscovering what it was about magic that you first loved...and perhaps relearning how to share its original wonder with others. Price: £20

Additionally, Charles delves into the psychology involved in performing with a marked deck. From strategies for misdirection to key cards, stacked decks, and mnemonics, Charles explores every angle of the tips and tactics that can enhance tricks with any marked deck.

For the beginning card conjurer, an entire chapter of easy-to-do miracle material has been included. These tricks require little if any sleight of hand, yet pack a wallop when performed. Even amateurs, armed with a marked deck and these “Instant Miracles” will be amazing spectators in no time!

Best of all, Hidden in Plain Sight details the workings of the finest marked cards on the market, the Boris Wild Marked Deck. A lengthy chapter, written by Boris Wild himself, details the nuts and bolts of his stellar system, and includes two blockbuster tricks that will fool not only laymen but magicians as well!

For the serious student, a lengthy bibliography has been included, leading the reader to further information and uses for marked cards. Price £9

Learn how to build illusions by understanding basic illusion principles. Andrew Mayne's newest book features several new creations along with re-worked classic illusions that help teach you how to think like an illusionist.

In the first installment of the series you'll discover the methods of secret spaces, contortions and manipulation as they apply to magic.

8.5 x 11, 120 pages filled with diagrams and illustrations. Price: £28

The Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks By Stewart James

An essential title for every magician, The Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks is the only book of its kind.

Magical genius Stewart James, over the course of 40+ years, compiled three volumes of the Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks. Now, for the first time, these classic works have been collected, newly edited, and combined in a single hardbound volume.

Over the course of nearly 450 large-format pages, James describes every nuance of this fascinating branch of conjuring. Hundreds of effects are described. Puzzles share the pages with stage-filling illusions, legendary feats (like the fabled Indian Rope Trick), escapes, spirit effects, cut and restored tricks, penetrations, trick knots, suspensions, and James' famous Sefalaljia, to name but a few.

Rope tricks are the ultimate form of "pack small, play big" magic. And many impromptu feats that can be worked at the drop of a hat - often with borrowed rope - are described in these pages. Mini-miracles for virtually every type of performer are illuminated in these pages. From kid-show worker to close-up magician and parlor prestidigitator, rope tricks to suit nearly every taste, theme, and interest (not to mention skill) level are included.

Many of the greatest magical minds of the last 100 years contributed to the Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks, including Harlan Tarbell, David Devant, Jay Marshall, Martin Gardner, Eddie Joseph, Larry Becker, G.W. Hunter, Sid Lorraine, Bob Hummer, Jean Hugard, Winston Freer, Burling Hull, T. Page Wright, U.F. Grant, William Larsen, Sr., Dunninger, Percy Abbott, P.C. Sorcar, Tenkai Ishida, Will Brema, and many, many more.

The Encyclopedia of Rope Tricks is an invaluable reference work. Hardbound, 7x10". 456 pages, with over 1500 illustrations.

With an introduction by Mac King and new essay on the Indian Rope Trick by Peter Lamont. Price: £36

In Act Two, Barrie Richardson shows that he has lost none of his gentle thunder. His new book features 54 tricks, ideas and routines, with all the attributes for which his work has become known and admired. Most include full presentations that use humanity, humor and an unfaltering sense of drama, that culminate in feats that are clearly impossible and thoroughly amazing.

Along with some of his most prized routines, Richardson includes valuable examples taken from his professional repertoire of motivational talks for public and business audiences.

The scenes in Act Two amount to what might be called a modern "miracle play." Here is a scant sampling of the action:
• Spectators name any card and a position in the deck. They count down to that position in an isolated pack and find their card at the precise number they chose. The performer never touches the cards, there are no forces or switches, and the deck is ungimmicked.
• Remarkable new billet techniques are applied to ordinary business cards and Post-It notes to create astonishing effects of mind reading.
• A deck of cards, shuffled by two spectators, mysteriously separates into reds and blacks in their hands, while the performer tells of mysteries experienced on Mt. Kenya at the equator.
• Various feats of superhuman memory and rapid calculation convince audiences of the performer's extraordinary mental powers—and their own.
• A strange solid form materializes under an ungimmicked cloth napkin, and then just mysteriously melts away.
• The true and complete method is revealed for the ancient Jar of Rice Suspension, presented to a tale of training and accomplishment in China.
• Ground-breaking methods are explained for the divining of one or several mentally selected cards.
• Also included are three new deck-switches, done while standing, that require no sleights or use of pockets; a deck that secretly unshuffles itself after being mixed by a spectator; and many more mysteries using coins, bills, magazines, marbles, rope and more.

Frequently, sequels fail to live up to their predecessors. That is not the case here. You won't want to miss Act Two. A quality hardcover, 382 pages of baffling and practical material, loaded with full presentations. Price: £29

Dear Mister Fantasy by John Bannon

We are pleased to announce the publication of Dear Mr. Fantasy, John Bannon's first collection of close-up magic since Smoke & Mirrors over a decade ago. DMF is a 200 page, hardbound, photo-illustrated, card magic masterpiece that will impress even the most seasoned professional card magician. DMF contains nineteen card tricks and other asides that are performed with unprepared cards, and most are completely impromptu! This book will leave you primed to take your magic to the public in any setting!

Price: £25

Why is it that some magicians get great audience reaction while others who are just as skillful leave audiences so cold? The answers are in Strong Magic, the first-ever book on showmanship specifically for the close-up magician.

As a successful professional magician for almost twenty rears, Darwin Ortiz has appeared before thousands of audiences of all kinds. During that time he has studied what it takes to really move an audience. In Strong Magic, he presents the results of those years of study and experience in a way that every magician can benefit from.

Do you want applause, gasps, and praise? Do you want your performances to be talked about and remembered? Strong Magic tells you how. You already own countless books on card and coin manipulation. Here is a book on something far more important: audience manipulation. Not a dry, boring treatise, it's funny, fascination, exciting reading. Not a book of vague theory, it's loaded with countless examples and concrete techniques that you can put to use right away to give your magic more impact. These are the real secrets of close-up magic--and they are all in Strong Magic.

Price: £35

The Complete Walton - Volume 1 By Roy Walton. One of the acclaimed classics of card magic for the advanced cardician with some 150 card effects with unprepared cards. Although a "self contained" volume of tricks and sleights it has the added bonus for those who are not familiar with a particular sleight of being able to move quickly to the special chapter dedicated to Sleights. This chapter describes how the author himself performs such sleights as The Multiple Shift, The Half Pass, The Weave Shuffle, The Monte Throw, The Turnover Pass, The Second Deal, The Bottom Deal, The Ghost and Jordan Count, The Hamman Count etc. etc. The author, Roy Walton, is one of Britain's most brilliant, creative and innovative card magicians. 226 pages, over 60 illustrations, hard back. Price £20

The Complete Walton - Volume 2 By Roy Walton. This volume follows the highly acclaimed first volume and comprises over 100 original sleights and effects. Davenports have ensured that Volume Two is a perfect match to Volume One and completes over 400 pages of some of the best card effects from a prodigious innovator. This volume has been superbly and comprehensively illustrated by Gordon Bruce one of Britain's most accomplished card conjurors. This work is directed towards the dedicated card magician with a knowledge of sleights and handling. 169 pages, fully illustrated, hard back with gold block titles. Price £20

Among those things Juan Tamariz is most recognized for, among magicians, is his trailblazing work with the memorized deck—a tool with extraordinary potential for creating utterly baffling magic. Over the past two decades, Tamariz has been the recognized leader in its use and, with Simon Aronson in the United States (who contributes an introduction to this book), the most influential.

Tamariz's memorized deck stack, "Mnemonica", has become a legend with card magicians throughout the world, and within this book he reveals at last its complete workings, as well as teaching the reader how to memorize the stack-forever—in as little as three hours. Accompanying this information are more than a hundred tricks and routines that radically expand the range of effects commonly thought possible with a memorized deck, and an annotated bibliography that leads the reader to an amazing body of additional material on the memorized deck, making Mnemonica the most complete study of its subject ever done.

Mnemonica is 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.

432 pages, over 400 photos, hardcover.

Price: £45

Hard Bound with gold foil lettering, large format A4 size on quality paper, 121 pages and 269 illustrations.
Price: £22

Card Concepts By Arthur F. MacTier. Newly published by Davenports and already recognised as a major reference work for cardicians. The sub title of this work is "An Anthology of Numerical & Sequential Principles within Card Magic". A major and extremely important work where all of the classic mathematical principles, 31 in all, used with cards, together with 70 tricks using these principles are included in a novel way. Each principle is explained in easy-to-understand terms, then tricks involving the particular principle are explained in a step-by-step instruction. No book which covers these principles so comprehensively has been undertaken before. One does not need to be a mathematician to understand and use the principles involved as the author cleverly gives examples of how you can use the principles without knowing the maths behind them. The tricks are virtually self working yet they involve the best mathematical principles developed. Hard bound with gold block lettering, 301 pages, large format 8-1/4 by 11-1/2 inches.

Price £16

Constant Fooling Volume One contains a collection of powerful card magic utilizing unprepared cards, David’s startling Cups & Balls routine from his Magic Castle Act and a chapter devoted entirely to magic done with neither cards nor coins.

Prepare to fool your audiences with the following:

* Multiple spectators shuffle an ordinary deck, which is then held under a spectator’s hand, yet the magician has correctly predicted the top card.
* The magician, standing behind the table with empty hands, causes a signed selection to penetrate the tabletop.
* A selection is placed between four Aces held in the hands, then jumps to the center of a pile of Kings already on the table.
* The magician pockets four-of-a-kind selected by a spectator, then spreads the Aces in a face-up fan. Visually, in an instant, the cards change places.
* A spectator cuts the deck multiple times, arriving at his own phone number.
* Two volunteers cut to and turn over the four aces—a new method for a classic effect.You may fool yourself!
* A cotton ball is plucked from a spectator’s clothing, then changes into a handkerchief.
* A card case is turned into a magical box that allows a spectator’s ring to penetrate onto a pencil.
* A pet mouse terrifies the audience on its way to locating a spectator’s selected playing card.
* A borrowed ring vanishes and appears threaded on a luggage tag.

Hardbound with full color dust jacket, 232 pages. Price £31

* A spectator freely deals down to a “Lucky Card”. . . that happens to match the card in the magician’s wallet.
* The deck is tossed onto a small but lethal mousetrap which snaps shut—trapping the selection as cards scatter.
* A late psychic’s scrap of paper predicts the actions of a spectator.
* A freely-selected card rises from a deck, using a gimmick you can make in one minute.
* Spectators randomly deal the deck into piles, perfectly separating the four suits in the process.
* Fifty-one cards are eliminated in the fairest possible manner from an examined deck, leaving a single card that matches a prediction. Mr. Regal’s favorite platform item.
* A signed playing card changes places with a pocketed Joker—with clean hands and no palming.
* A signed card rises to the top of a deck that is tied with string. The deck can then be used for further miracles.
* A borrowed bill cleanly changes into a hundred dollar bill, via a new method that doesn’t utilize a thumb tip.
* A story of life “after hours” is told with a deck of cards. A showpiece guaranteed to garner applause.

Hardbound with full color dustjacket, 239 pages. Price £31

Contains:
BroomFlight - Be a real-life Harry Potter and float on a borrowed broom
Airborne - Have a seat 6 feet up in the air
Floating on the Edge - An impromptu levitation that can be performed virtually anywhere
Mid-Air - A levitation suitable for stage that will leave your audience amazed and costs you less than £15 and 10 minutes of time to make
Suspension of Disbelief - Hypnotize your assistant and make them float five feet in the air
The Street Levitation - A simple, easy to understand explanation of the levitation seen by millions of people on television (the one everyone asks if you can do).
Staplebound, 18 pages. Price £9.50

The Breakthrough Card System by Richard Osterlind
20th Anniversary Edition

Imagine being able to name a card a spectator has chosen without looking at the cards. You just look in their eyes and name it as if you were reading their minds!

Or, imagine standing on a stage and allowing a spectator to choose a handful of cards from a jumbo deck and naming the cards he holds one at a time. They'll swear that you're even able to tell which one they're looking at.

These are not pie in the sky ideas. Every one of them is possible with the Osterlind Breakthrough Card System. It's a stacked deck but, unlike other cyclical stacks, defies detection by even the most astute spectators, with absolutely no tell-tale number or color sequences. Even a skilled mathemetician would be unable to unravel its diabolical secret, yet you'll learn it in no time flat and use it for the rest of your performing life.

Since the publication of the slim manuscript that originally introduced Richard Osterlind's system to the magic and mentalism communities, he's developed learning aids, performance tips and, most significantly, killer effects that will literally leave your audiences speechless. None of this additional information was in that little book but it's all here now in one place, ready for you to put right into your act. These are the same effects Richard Osterlind uses for corporate audiences all around the world...and now they can be yours.

It was a breakthrough in card magic in 1983...and it's only gotten better!

Softcover, fully-illustrated manuscript. Price £12

Card College Volume 5

It's finally here! In the fifth volume of the acclaimed Card College series, Roberto Giobbi has prepared a graduation party! In previous volumes the reader has been given a remarkable collection of tools for creating astonishing card magic. In the same vein, Volume 5 begins with a meaty chapter of new techniques and strategies, which include methods for covertly arranging stacks during performance, obtaining a duplicate of a spectator's signature with his knowledge, and secretly conveying cards to and from the deck-powerful tools indeed.

But then Volume 5 diverges from the established Card College formula. Judging that the reader now has more than a sufficient number of tools in his grasp, Mr. Giobbi provides eight chapters filled with tricks and routines that illustrate how various techniques are applied to create world-class card magic. These effects, however, are not mere constructions meant for teaching. Most have been drawn from Roberto Giobbi's professional repertoire-and because of this, even the classics of card magic are given a fresh gleam as Giobbi adds refinements won from years of performing experience.

His choice of material is impeccable, featuring not only original effects and handlings of his own, but tricks and routines by world-masters as well. One finds such gems as Fred Kaps' presentation for The Signed Card in Box, along with Giobbi's cunning treatment of this modern classic, Henry Christ's fabulous Ace routine and a superb handling of a forgotten masterpiece by Charlie Miller. And everything is taught with the clarity and attention to detail for which the Card College series has become known. Open this book and welcome to the party-prepare to graduate! Some of the topics covered in Volume Five include:

Making Secret Setups
False Shuffles
Obtaining Duplicate Signatures
Quick Tricks
Openers and Routines with the Aces
Favorite Effects
Gambling Demonstrations
Mental Mysteries

Price: £28

CABARET COLLECTION

By John Penrose. Published in limited edition with each copy numbered and signed by the author. There are 25 original and highly professional effects described in near perfect detail, supported by some of the best illustrations we've seen in years. This is not for the beginner, not that they are difficult, but they are designed for the performing professional being highly original and truly magical. This is a complete collection of John Penrose's highly acclaimed effects most of which can be performed silently. 50 pages, A4 size, soft back. Price: £12.95