Gibson, Walter: The Book of Magic ©1978 Walter B. Gibson, Baroney Publishing Co., NY Hardcover, 264 pages ISBN: 0-089437-033-2 Also in Softcover

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Contents (from book):

7 Introduction
9 Foreword (Howard Thurston)
12 Preface
14 The Romance of Magic
27 The Art of Misdirection
32 Classes Of Magic

37 Section I Tricks Without Sleight of Hand or Apparatus

40 Chapter I Tricks With Pencil, Paper And Figures
40 The Mental Number: mathematical trick
41 His Favorite Figure: repeating number effect
42 Radio Telepathy: 1089 trick done over the radio
43 A Written Addition: addition prediction
44 The Counting Race: game
45 Mystic Number Nine: magician names missing number
46 Seven Pellets: pellets cross hands
47 The Spirit Message: carbon message provides an answer to a question written

49 Chapter II Magic With A Matchbox
49 Finding the Heads: magician knows which end has the heads
49 Magnetic Matches: matches fall out of box on command
50 The Balanced Match Boxes: three for four boxes balance
50 TopsyTurvy Matches: match heads move from one end to the other
51 Smash It!: physical stunt
51 Striking Safety Matches: lighting a match on your shoe
52 Picking Up the Drawer: Challenge
52 A Magic Blow Out: blowing out a match up the sleeve
53 The Box on the Door: wooden match box sticks to a door
53 Label Up: box always falls label-side up
53 The Jumping Match: one match jumps along another

55 Chapter III Simple Coin Tricks
55 A Simple Coin Vanish: from a handful of coins
56 Vanishing Coin and Match-Box: coin spun on table is smashed with a matchbox, where it vanishes
56 The Coin Fold: coin vanishes in folded paper
57 The Improved Coin Fold
58 The Coin in the Gobelt: coin is heard to fall into a glass under handkerchief, but vanishes
59 The Coin in the Match-Box: coin appears in empty match-box
59 The Coin In The Lemon: a lemon is cut in half to produce a coin
60 The Coin In the Roll: coin is found in a bread roll
60 The Coin Through The Hat: one coin passes through a hat and into a glass
61 Coins Through the Hat: another version
61 Coin, Hat and Glass: physical stunt
62 The Balanced Coin: coin balances on the hand then slowly lowers
62 Coin Balanced on Knife: another version
63 The Coin in the Box: magician knows whether heads up or tails
64 The Vanishing Dime: from between two half-dollars
65 The Hang Ping Chien Coin Trick: impromptu

67 Chapter IV Sorcery With String
67 The String Through the Buttonhole: challenge
68 The Knot On the String: a knot appears in a string tied between the wrists
68 Th eLoop and the Finger: string penetrates fingers
69 The Disappearing Loop: in a string
69 String on the Fingers: string looped between the fingers comes free
70 The Tied Thumbs: thumb tie escape

72 Chapter V Easy Card Tricks
72 Mystic Court Cards: virtually self working
73 Ten Pairs: magician determines chosen pair of cards
73 Easy Triplets: variation
74 The Baffling Card: mentally selected card leaves the pack
75 A Card Mystery: magician knows which of 6 cards was looked at with his back turned
76 Stop At the Card: magician says stop at the selected card
76 Counting the Same Number: magician picks off same number of cards as spectator
77 Pocket to Pocket: some cards transfer from spectator's pocket to magicians
78 Naming a Chosen Card: chosen behind the back
78 The Self-Reversing Pack: half the deck instantly appears face up
79 The Self-Dividing Pack: pack seems to cut itself in mid air with a rubber band around it
79 The Sympathetic Attraction: magician finds the second of two selections
81 The Lucky Joker: Joker helps name a card
81 Finding a Chosen Card: card discovery
82 Two Together: two named cards come together
83 The Clock Trick: with twelve cards in a circle

84 Chapter VI Handkerchief Mysteries
84 Stretching a Handkerchief: illusion
85 The One Hand Knot: tied
85 Hands Together: instant knot
85 The Pencil in the Handkerchief: pencil falls out
86 Handkerchief Through the Wrist: penetration

87 Chapter VII Dinner Table Tricks
87 Magnetic Sugar: top sugar lump picks up another
87 Magnetizing a Knife: adheres to the hand
88 The Mystic Banana: self sliced Banana
89 The Mystic Walnut: paper with name on it found inside
90 An Orange and an Apple: magician knows which one was raised
90 Moving the Glasses: puzzle

92 Chapter VIII Tricks With Various Objects
92 The Color Changing Balloon: once popped
92 The Number on the Bill: determining serial number even or odd
93 The Coin and the Glass Illusion: optical illusion
93 The Glass and the Cane: joke
94 The Walking Hairpin: walks along a ruler
94 The Ball On the String: sways or circles depending on gender
94 The Red Muslin Bands: modern version of Afghan Bands

97 Section II The Principles And Application Of Sleight Of Hand

99 Chapter I Sleight Of Hand With Coins
100 The French Drop and Improvements
102 Palming a Coin
105 Coin Changes: three methods
106 Disappearing and Reappearing Coin: using the regulation coin
106 The Flying Coin: from hand to hand
107 A Series of Coin Passes
109 The Back Palm
110 The Miser's Dream: production of coins
112 Coin Catching Extraordinary
113 Three Coin Vanish: from table into hand and vanish

115 Chapter II Sleight Of Hand With Thimbles
115 Palming a Thimble
116 The Open Hand Vanish
116 Vesting a Thimble
117 The Multiplying Thimble

120 Chapter III Sleight Of Hand With Cards
121 A. Preliminary Sleights
121 False Shuffles and Cuts
124 The Fan Pass
125 Palming Cards
127 Card Changes
128 The False Count
129 The Force
130 The Side Steal
131 Color Changes

134 B. Sleight Of Hand Tricks
134 The Mystic Aces
136 The Cards Up the Sleeve
138 The Twenty Card Trick
140 The Four Aces
141 The Card in the Pocket
142 Card Discoveries

143 C. Advanced Sleights And Flourishes
143 The Pass
147 A New Pass
148 The Back and Front Palm
151 Flourishes
152 - The Spring
153 - The Turnover
154 - The Catch

155 D. Further Card Tricks
155 Six Card Vanish and Production
155 Production and Vanish
157 Single Card Production
157 The Card in the Cigarette
158 The Card In the Orange

159 Section III Magic With Small Apparatus

162 Chapter I. Card Tricks
162 The Self-Forcing Pack: Svengali pack
164 The Self-Shifting Pack: the Mene-Tekel pack
165 The Color Changing Pack: mechanical pack
166 The Revelation Pack: new form of long and short pack
168 The Short And Narrow Pack: one card short and one card narrowed
169 The Instanto Pack: cut to any card called for

172 Chapter II Coin Tricks
172 The Coin Box: special coin vanishes
172 The Vanishing Coin Bank: a marked coin vanishes and appears elsewhere
173 The Coin Glass: allows a coin to vanish
174 The Single Coin Vanisher: a special pull

174 Chapter III Handkerchief Tricks
175 The Handkerchief Pull
175 The Color Changing Pull
176 The Handkerchief And Wand
177 The Finger-Tip
177 Handkerchief Production: from empty hands

179 Chapter IV Miscellaneous Tricks
179 The Cigarette Vanisher
179 Cigar And Cigarette Vanishes
180 The Vanishing Pencil: using the cigarette vanisher
180 Torn And Restored Paper: using TT
181 The X-Ray Clock: magician knows what time was set by spectator
181 The Divination Candles: magician knows which color candle was placed in a tube
183 The Patriotic Rockets: similar effect with three cylinders

185 Section IV Carl Brema's Exclusive Mysteries

188 The Yogi Coin Box: magician names date of coin placed in a box
190 The Demon's Bars: like the rattle-bars
191 The Disc And String Trick: coins come off a string
192 The Dollar Bill And Tube Trick: bill vanished and found in a metal tube
193 The New Egg Production: catching eggs out of the air
194 The Improved Cigarette Catcher: Brema's version
195 The Cigarette Wand: for producing cigarettes
196 The Cigarette Tube: cigarette vanishes in a tube and only the match is found
196 The Sliding Coin Box: version of the Sliding Die Box
198 The Silver Boxes: coin vanishes and is found in a nest of boxes
201 The Devil's Ladder: two pillars linked by strings
204 The Hindu Wand: the Chinese Sticks
209 Confetti And Flower Bowls: confetti grows and a bouquet is produced
211 The Illusion Top Table: a mirrored table

213 Section V. Platform Magic

216 Chapter I. Black Art Tables

218 Chapter II Handkerchief Tricks
218 The Passe Passe Handkerchiefs: handkerchiefs transfer from one tube to another
220 The Red Cross And The Stars And Stripes: handkerchiefs change to various flags
221 The Cylinder And The Glass: red handkerchief vanished to be found between two blue handkerchiefs
222 The Patriotic Handkerchiefs: three same color handkerchiefs placed in each of three bowls, come out as red, white and blue

224 Chapter III. Production Tricks
224 The Wonder Screen: production apparatus
225 The Wonder Cabinet: small cabinet production device
226 The Breakaway Cabinet: improved version
226 The Flag Vase: handkerchiefs produced from vase filled with water

228 Chapter IV Miscellaneous Tricks
228 The Sucker Die Box: a die slides from one side to another in a box, then vanishes
230 Solid Through Solid: the Handkerchief frame
232 The Vanishing Alarm Clock: suspended from a hook
233 The Vanishing Bowl: of water
234 The New Rice Bowls: variation of the traditional

236 Chapter V Spirit Tricks
236 The Rapping Hand: for stage
237 The Improved Rapping Hand: another version
237 The Rapping Hand On The Board: for close range
238 The Talking Skull: on glass
239 The Rising And Falling Ball: rises & falls on command
239 The Spirit Bell: answers questions
240 The Spirit Clock: prediction
241 Spirit Seance In Full Light: the spirit cloth

243 Section VI Stage Illusions

247 The Threefold Screen: appearance of assistant
248 The Mummy Case: assistant vanishes, and magician appears
248 The Japanese Cabinet: vanish and re-appearance
250 The Cabinet Of Proteus: a mirror cabinet
251 The Throne Illusion: assistant production
251 The Human Die Box: human version with different working
253 The Shower Bath Illusion: assistant appears in middle of a water shower
254 The Ladder Illusion: assistant vanishes while climbing a ladder
255 The Spirit Cabinet: tambourines, bells, etc. make noise in a cabinet
258 Mephisto And Faust: costume transposition
259 The Sword Cabinet: assistant in cabinet of swords is unharmed
260 The New Sword Cabinet: improved version

262 Conclusion