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Henry Hay - The Amateur Magician's Handbook
Henry Hay - The Amateur Magician's Handbook
©1950 1st Edition, 1982 4th Edition, Henry Hay, Harper & Row
Publishers, NY
Hardcover, 414 pages
ISBN 0-06-014865-9
Available as an e-Book from Lybrary.com
1950's Edition
Image courtesy e-Bay seller Fourth Edition
Thaumaturge2 Image from Magicref
Comments: Some B&W photographs by Audrey Alley. The Amateur Magician's Handbook is a classic text and is recommend for all beginning/amateur
magicians. That said, the handbook will certainly not be the last book you will ever need to buy. By reading it, you will have a good overview of the magic
arts, and your head will be filled with many of the principles of the trickery. However, many of the descriptions are brief and do little more than "expose" the
method. The lack of illustrations (photos are relatively few) make some of the descriptions unclear to the unfamiliar. Many references to more detailed books
are provided, however.
Note: The fourth edition add a section on videotaping yourself by The Amazing Randi and a new part VI on magic for children's shows.
Contents:
10 Chapter Two: Hard Easy Tricks and Easy Hard Tricks: essay on practice, learning magic, presentation
89 Chapter Four: Give Them A Rest (Tricks where no cards are chosen)
89 1. The Four Aces: Aces assemble to one packet; variations
92 Nate Leipzig's Slap Aces: Effect
93 Cardini's Ace Trick: effect
94 2. The Cards Up the Sleeve: includes false count, variations
98 3. The Diminishing Cards
100 4. The Thirty Card Trick: cards pass from spectator to spectator
103 5. More Flourishes: Cards from the mouth and Fan Away
104 6. The Ambitious Card: The whole deck becomes Jokers
105 7. The Three Card Trick: Basic Monte explanation with pointers to references and the Mexican Turnover
108 8. Reading the Cards: various methods mentioned
147 Chapter 7: The Miser's Dream and Other Great Coin Tricks
147 1. Miser's Dream: lengthy discussion of approaches
151 2. Catching Five Coins (Downs' Eureka Pass)
152 3. Manuel's Thumb Gag
153 4. Nate Leipzig's Slow Motion Vanish
156 5. Leipzig's Coin from Hand to Hand
157 6. Coin From Hand to Hand: 3 methods
159 7. Silver and Gold: Three silver join 3 gold coins. Version of Dai Vernon's Winged Silver
160 8. The Sympathetic Coins: Coin Assembly/Matrix. Downs' Version
164 9. Coins Dissolving in a Handkerchief (click pass)
164 10. The Shake Penetration (Senor Mardo)
165 11. Coins to Handkerchief
167 12. Coin from Handkerchief to Handkerchief
167 13. Trouser Leg Vanish
168 14. The Dissolving Coin (no disk version)
169 15. Finding the Chosen Coin: Spectator 2 finds Spectator 1's coin
170 16. Date Detection (Eddie Joseph): similar to above, uses one ahead principle
171 17. Coins Up The Sleeve: Coins travel from left hand to right trouser pocket
174 Heartbreakers: lots of practice, but little reward
174 18. Heads or Tails: always predict coin flip
175 19. Coins to Glass
176 20. Coin Star (One handed)
176 21. Coin Star (Two handed)
365 Chapter 21: How to Stage a Magic Show: Some Professional Advice
365 1. Comedy
367 2. Pantomime (Louise Gifford)
371 3. Music (Henry Blanchard, Boyd C. Roche)
372 4. Night Club Shows
374 5. Business Methods
376 6. Publicity