Fulves, Karl: The Magic Book ©1977 Karl Fulves, Little Brown & Co. Softcover, perfect-bound, 8.5x11", 196 pages Big Book of Magic Tricks ©1994 Dover Publications Softcover, perfect-bound, 8.5x11", 196 pages ISBN: 0486282287

Little Brown & Co. Edition Image courtesy eBay seller JayAndLefty

Dover Edition Image courtesy eBay seller Just_Your_Home

Comments (Dover): Illustrated with black and white drawings. Originally printed in 1977 as The Magic Book, was reprinted by Dover as Big Book of Magic Tricks. From the back cover of the Dover edition: "Unabridged and unaltered Dover (1994) republication of the edition published by Little Brown & Company, Boston, 1977, under the title The Magic Book" (A Conjurer's Collection of Dazzling Effects for Parlor and Platform). An excellent beginner/intermediate book for newer magicians.

Contents (From Little Brown Edition):

ix Preface
xi Acknowledgments

1 Chapter 1 The Art of the Impossible
3 History of Magic: from ancient world to present
7 Magic and Its Professors:
8 - Cagliostro
10 - Pinetti
11 - Robert-Houdin
15 - Houdini

19 Chapter 2 The Hand Is Smarter than the Eye
21 Psychology and Misdirection
22 Invisible Information: what you can't see
23 Testing the Power of Misdirection: an empty packet of matches becomes full
25 Super Transpo (John Benzais): penny and dime transpose between magician and spectator
27 Routined Magic: combining a match-stick puzzle and a penny penetrating into the matchbox
30 The Gambler's Palm: in a supposed demonstration of card palming, small cards separate into blanks and signed
34 Telepathy for Two: mentalist determines ESP symbol selected by spectator with aid from magician
36 Numerology: mathematical trick using dollar bill serial numbers
38 Concluding Observations

41 Chapter 3 Closeup Magic
44 Banded Together: rubber bands un-link
45 Bounce Band: rubber band penetrates finger
46 Mass Hypnosis: another rubber band penetration
47 Flying Clipper: paper clips link together from a dollar bill
47 Banked Roll: Five dollar bill and One dollar bill changes order
48 Passing the Buck (Don Nielsen, Ed Tabor) one folded bill penetrates another
49 Not a Knot: dissolving rope knot
50 Subtract a Knot (Joseph Fries, Elmer Applegit): another dissolving knot
50 Hunter's Impossible Knot (G.W. Hunter): another
51 All in a Row: liquid in glasses puzzle
52 Three Tumblers: another swindle
53 Spirit Music: eerie music from a suspended glass
54 Drop Out: drop out just one of three dice from between fingers
55 Jumping Dice: dice appear to change places
56 Balancing Act: balancing two dice on one
56 Mental Dice: a bet in your favor
57 The Probable Outcome: magician predicts number arrived at by rolling dice
58 Concluding Notes

61 Chapter 4 Card Magic
63 Easy as A-B-C: self working card prediction suitable for young and old
65 The Yogi Knows: spelling card trick
66 A Rare Find: location where one card is used to find selection
68 Fourcast: spectator chooses two cards, magician chooses two cards, for four of a kind
69 The Game of 7-16 (Bill Taylor): using under/down shuffle to predict a winner
70 Color Flite: Jokers turn into selections from Red and Blue-backed decks
72 The Haunted Card: card rise
74 Flash Aces: Aces pop out of banded deck
77 The Miracle Discovery: card location
79 Concluding Observations

81 Chapter 5 Coin Magic
83 Change in Mind: simple coin prediction
84 Heads or Tails (Al Thatcher): spectator turns coins heads up or down, magician predicts final status of one coin
85 Invisible Pockets: coin jumps from one invisible shirt pocket to another, then coins vanish completely
87 Coin Stabbing: coin vanishes in a coin fold
88 Turnabout (Martin Gardner): puzzle
89 The 32 Cent Trick: coins penetrate glasses
91 Money Mental: coin mentalism based on the center-tear
93 A Coin Swindle: coin penetrates the pants pocket
94 Double Express: marked coin transposes with regular coin
95 Ghost Coin (Jimmy Herpick): dime is tossed and lands between two mouth-to-mouth shot glasses
96 The Nine Mystery: self working revelation of a coin chosen in a 9 pattern
97 Coins and a Ring: coins hand to hand with aid of a finger ring
99 A Flourish and a Trick (Joseph K. Schmidt): a three quarter juggle with a simple trick

101 Chapter 6 Rope Magic
103 Hindu Rope Trick: the myth
104 Sawing Through a Rope: handkerchief penetrates a rope
105 Double Cut Mystery: cut and restored rope
106 Cheating the Hangman: rope through neck
107 Single Cut Rope: knot is plucked of a just-cut rope
108 Impromptu Needle Threading: end of rope is instantly threaded through a loop
109 Ring Flite (Sam Schwartz): bracelet ring off rope
110 Lefty (J.W. Sarles): ring on rope
112 Lightning Link (A. Kojima): a rope is knotted, yet a ring appears on its center
113 Lightning Unlink: variation where ring also unlinks
114 Knot Possible (Milbourne Christopher): three phase rope and knot routine
117 Gambler's Knot (Tony Slydini): performer ties a knot in a rope, but spectator cannot duplicate

121 Chapter 7 Mental Magic
123 Introduction
125 How to Spot Fraudulent Psychics
126 Sixes and Sevens: dime, penny and match prediction
127 Match Mentalism (Fred DeMuth): divine how many matches held in the hand
128 Lines of Force: pencil rolls toward picture of a magnet
129 The Lock Mystery: a key lock falls on the envelope that contains the key that opens it
130 Oracle: cards are eliminated to one, which was predicted
133 Living and Dead Test: using the center tear principle
134 Two Person Telepathy: mentalist locates two selections from two spectators
135 The Parity Principle (Bob Hummer, Jack Yates): behind his back, magician determines which of four objects was selected
137 How to Predict the Super Bowl (Richard Himber): winner prediction for two competitors

141 Chapter 8 Comedy Magic
143 Introduction
144 Nothing: gag
144 Blackmailing the Enemy: heckler can't get dime to fall off his forehead
145 The $30 TV Set: comedy sign routine
146 Comedy Coke In the Hat: comedy liquid in hat effect
148 A Big Card (Don Nielsen): Magician pulls out some wrong cards from a bag to find selection, pulls out Giant replica of selection and rest of deck has vanished
149 Words, Words, Words (Sid Lorraine): comedy word where one letter is removed at a time
151 The IQ Test: in a son and Father competition, the son wins
156 The "Oh" Puzzle (Bill Elliott): a comedy puzzle

179 Chapter 10 Ultimate Impossibilities
181 Introduction: some illusions that almost defy explanation
183 de Kolta's Inventions
183 Egyptian Hall Mysteries
185 Howard Thurston
185 The Bullet Catch
187 Selbit's Mile a Minute
188 Le Roy and De Biere
188 Horace Goldin
190 Maurice Raymond
190 Harry Houdini
194 John Scarne