Walter Gibson: Magic for Beginners

Gibson, Walter: Magic for Beginners
©1978 Frederick Fell Publishers, Inc., FL
Softcover, perfect-bound, 191 pages

Image courtesy eBay seller IntervalMagic

Image courtesy eBay seller discover-books

Comments: Part of Fell's Official Know-It-All-Guide series. These are revisions of the earlier "Beginner's Guide to Magic", with a few tricks missing but including two additional chapters, Presenting Knots: Knot Tricks with Added Effects; and A Bag of Tricks: mixed bag of tricks by magician Mike Shelley. The earlier Beginner's Guide book is listed separately.

Contents (from book):

xix Introduction
xxiii How to Set up Your Own Magic Show

1 Part I Instant Magician: Card Tricks using two decks of cards, a glass and a handkerchief

1 A Magic Discovery: magician discovers secret number of cards selected by the audience member
3 Three-Card Monte: The Queen in the middle of a trio of cards disappears
6 Find the Card: The pre-selected card is picked out of a deck magically
8 The Mystic Row of Cards: A trick of discovery
10 The Magic Card: magician discovers audience's selected card in a heap of other cards
12 Change the Number: One person remembers a card and another names a number; magician mixes deck and puts the first card at the spot named by the second.
14 Here’s Your Card: spectator's card suddenly appears at the bottom of the deck
17 The Sharper's Trick: gag effect
18 Kings-Queens-Jacks: All the royalty is shuffled and dealt out in sequential suits
19 Mysterious Totals: magician leaves room, returns and tells how many cards remain in a previously dealt deck
22 Whiskaway: card dropped in a glass, covered with handkerchief, and a different card appears
25 Mysterious Kings: Kings appear in unexpected places
26 The Card Circle: The magician discovers the three hidden cards
29 Quick Poker Deal: Deal out the hands and give yourself a Royal Flush
30 Four Ace Deal: turn up the four Aces in your poker hand
31 Eleven Speller: Spell out the selected card through a mysterious deal
34 Lucky Dozen: A variation on Eleven Speller; this time with twelve.

37 Part II King of the Hill: Tricks for the Story Teller

37 Cross the River: puzzle story moving a fox, a goose and a sack of corn across the river
38 Merchants and Thieves: Three Kings and three Jacks try to cross a river in a boat meant for two
40 Three Married Couples: Kings and Queens try to cross the same river with many complications
40 Three in a Boat: variation of Married Couples
41 Super Poker Deal: An Honest John story that relates how the dealer dealt himself a perfect hand
42 Honest John Returns: The dealer returns with an explanation of his methods, but with a big surprise.

45 Part III You’re on Deck: Advanced Card Tricks

45 The Mystic Circle: spectator mentally selects a card and points to another; magician announces the mentally selected card
48 The Twenty Card Trick: The magician mysteriously discovers a pre-selected pair of cards
50 Three Columns: Out of three columns of cards, a chosen card is discovered.
52 Jacks are Better: four Jacks inserted in the deck later appear together
54 The Row of Ten: From the mysterious row, the magician picks your chosen card
56 The Spelling Bee: depends on the arrangement of the cards and careful dealing
58 The United Pairs: Suits of royal cards appear in sequential order after shuffling
60 The Mental Divination: With four rows of cards laid out, the magician picks the pre-selected card
63 Mystic Addition: magician names the totals of different piles of cards
65 Mental Detection: rivals some of the best feats of sleight of hand
68 Mystical Divination: magician mystically "sees" the pre-selected card.
71 The Magic Pile: magician follows the advice of spectator and surprises with a pile of cards numbering a pre-selected total
74 Pile it On: variation on Mystic Addition, names the total of three chosen cards

77 Part IV Tricks With Coins: Featuring Popular Coin Tricks

77 Coin Balanced on Handkerchief: quarter balances on the edge of a cloth handkerchief
79 Coin and Matchbox: From an empty matchbox, a penny appears
80 Two Balanced Coins: Two coins balance between magician's fingers
81 Finding the Chosen Coin: magician brings out penny pre-selected by the audience from a hat
83 The Spinning Coin: magician tells if spinning coin is heads or tails
84 Coin Through the Sleeve: produce a coin at the elbow
86 Perfect Penetration: coin magically drops through the crown of a hat into a glass
88 Chinese Coin Trick: coin with hole becomes knotted on a string and magcially removed
90 The Mysterious Ring: Chinese coin become knotted to a string tied between the wrists
92 The Mystic “Q”: spectator counts a pattern of coins forms a Q and magician points to the correct coin

95 Part V Look into My Eyes: Tricks of Hypnotism

95 The Strength Test: a person of equal strength cannot pull his touching forefingers apart
97 Controlled Eyelids: The subject has trouble opening his eyes
97 Immovable Fingers: The subject cannot move his fingertips apart
99 A Weak Knee: subject loses power of the left knee!
101 The Electric Wave: A tingling sensation sweeps through the subject’s hair
103 Magnetized Hand: hypnotist makes the subject’s hand move upward
104 Fingertip Control: subject is unable to rise from his seating position until the hypnotist allows
105 A Mesmerized Wrist: The subject loses control over his own wrist
107 Hypnotized Arms: subject's arms will levitate
109 Hand on Head: No one is able to remove the hypnotist's hand from his head
110 Cold Air: subject experiences coldness creeping through the palm of his hand
112 Hands Together: No one is able to pull the hands apart except at command
113 Lost Strength: performer's hand on the subject’s chin causes his strength to be sapped
115 Stopping the Pulse: performer stops own pulse, then starts it again

117 Part VI Round the Table Tricks

117 Under the Rising Matchbox: matchbox rises in the palm of the hand
118 Under Balanced Matchboxes: A series of six matchboxes stand on each other
120 Under the Mechanical Matchbox: matchbox closes at the sound of "Presto!”
120 Solid through Solid: match passes through the bar of a safety pin
122 The Magic Square: Magician knows numbers and totals of covered numbers on a chart
124 Orange Changes to Apple: Turn oranges to apples
125 Orange or Apple: behind his back magician knows whether orange or apple lifted
126 Two Handkerchiefs Tied: two handkerchiefs knot in the air
128 Balancing a Handkerchief: Make the handkerchief stand upright on your fingertips
129 Shaking the Knot: instant knot in handkerchief
130 Blowing Through a Bottle: blow out a candle through a glass bottle
131 Water That Is Not Wet: magician’s hand stays dry after being dipped in a bowl of water

133 Part VII All Tied Up: Tricks With String

133 The Fingers and the Loop: knot vanishes from spectator's finger
136 On and Off: Loops of string knotted and unknotted in a series of baffling methods
138 Knots that Are Not: Now you see three knots, now you don’t
140 The Pencil and Loop Trick: remove the pencil with the loop from buttonhole without cutting the string
142 Tying the Thumbs: magician removes coat and more with his thumbs tied

145 Part VIII Presenting Knots: Knot Tricks with Added Effects

145 Three Amazing Knots: The magician causes knots to appear in a rope
148 Houdini's Knot Mystery: With rope tied around waists of spectators, Spirits tie knots in a rope
150 Knot-Dissolving Tube: tube dissolves knots inserted into it
152 Rings and Loops: magician causes two rings to change places despite the knot between them
154 String and Scissors: great escape
155 The Disentangled Scissors: more detailed version of String and Scissors
156 Ropes through Coat: coat bound by ropes falls to the ground as the ropes are pulled by spectators
158 Ring on a Rope: ring appears on a rope tied between the magician's hands
159 The Knotted Ring: ring drops off rope though tied to center of a rope
160 Double Cut and Restored Rope: Cut a rope into three pieces, knot them together, then restore
162 Comedy “Cut-Rope” Climax: climax to the “Double Cut and Restored Rope" trick

163 Part IX Keep an Open Mind: Mental Mysteries

163 The Chosen Name: performer picks the chosen name from a hat
165 Amazing Figures: magician is always right.
167 Always Nine: magician always knows the center figure
168 Mysterious Multiplication: performer gives correct answer from multiplication
169 Tell the Time: magician tells you what time a watch reads
171 The Watch that Stops Itself: ticking watch stops and starts itself
171 The Book Mystery: book test
172 The Color Test: magician determines the color of yarn behind his back
174 Which Pencil?: performer selects pencil in hat chosen by spectator
176 Mental Card Detection: magician determnes selected card selected while he was absent
178 Think of a Number: magician taps five circles filled with numbers and reveals the selected number.

181 Part X A Bag of Tricks: mixed bag of tricks by magician Mike Shelley

181 I've Got Your Number: You will tell your audience members numbers they are thinking of.
182 Red, White & Blue: magician leaves the room then identifies an object selected by an audience member
183 It's All Done with Mirrors: mirror and marker make words magically appear
184 The Chosen Word: You will provide a name and phone number from thousands of choices

187 Appendix