Hercat (R.D. Chater): Hercat's Conjuring Up to Date ©1908 Dean & Son, Ltd, London Softcover, perfect-bound, 4.75x7.25", 142 pages

Image courtesy eBay seller Philmat2jle

Cover of 1903 Edition Image courtesy eBay seller JayandLefty

Comments: There was an earlier version of this book first printed in 1893 titled Card Tricks and Conjuring Up to Date, which was split into two works in 1907 because of expanded content.

This is the New Edition, Revised and Enlarged. From the preface: "Card Tricks and Conjuring Up to Date, by reason of recent additions, having become too large for one volume, I have decided to divide it into two, and now present Conjuring Up to Date by itself, in which I give a description of the very latest tricks, thus making it realize its title of “ up to date” In the other volume, Card Tricks With and Without Apparatus, will be found the most recent additions which have been made to escamotage des cartes. When both these volumes have been digested, students in legerdemain are advised to make a study of the more advanced conjuring to be found in my new book Latest Sleights and Illusions"

Contents (from book):

3 Preface to the New Edition
7 Introductory
8 A Few Hints
9 A Conjuring Table
10 A Chair Servante
10 A Vest Servante

12 Tricks With Coins
12 Palming
14 The Aerial Treasury
16 The Latest Money-Catching Wand
17 A Coin Bowl
18 Coins and Fan
20 To Pass a Shilling Into a Ball of Worsted
21 A Disappearing Sixpence
22 Mysterious Disappearance of a Coin

24 Tricks With Handkerchiefs and Flags
24 To Tie a Knot which Cannot be Drawn Tight
25 To Tie an Instantaneous Knot in a Handkerchief
26 To Tie Silk Handkerchiefs together and Untie them Instantaneously
26 A Handkerchief Vanisher and Exchanger
28 To Tie a Number of Knots which by Merely Shaking Become Unloosed
30 Appearing and Disappearing Silk Handkerchiefs
31 The Soup Plate and Silk Handkerchiefs
33 Trick with Handkerchief, Gun, and Sword
34 Handkerchiefs Produced Dry from a Glass of Wine
35 The Flag and Candle Illusion
36 A New Glass, Handkerchief, and Hat Trick
38 Another Method of Vanishing or Exchanging a Handkerchief
39 Other Methods of Producing Handkerchiefs
41 Another Match-Box Feke
42 Fekes for Causing Handkerchiefs to Disappear
42 The Sun and Moon
45 A Flying Handkerchief
47 The Growth of a Handkerchief in a Glass
48 Manufacturing a Flag
50 A New Handkerchief and Flag Trick

52 Tricks With Flowers
52 Spring Flowers
54 A Soup Plate Full of Flowers
55 Marvellous Floriculture
62 A New Flower Trick

63 Tricks With Eggs
63 A Good Feke for Holding an Egg
63 A Laying Hen Concealed in a Handkerchief
65 A Travelling Egg
66 Confetti and Egg
66 The Egg and Handkerchief

68 Tricks With Rings
68 A Borrowed Ring Found in a Nest of Envelopes Manufactured Out of a Programme
71 A Borrowed Ring Made to Travel

74 Tricks With Watches
74 A Smashed Watch Restored
77 An Obedient Watch, Handkerchief and Glass

80 Miscellaneous Tricks
80 Disappearing Gloves
82 The Billiard-Ball Trick
85 The Fish-Bowl Trick
88 The Bowl of Fire
88 The Magic Die
90 Hot Coffee and Milk made out of Paper Cuttings
92 The Tambour Rings
92 The Wizard’s Chain
93 The Phantom Glass of Water
95 A Novel Arithmetical Trick
96 A Trick on a Chess Board
98 The Magic Cricket Bat
99 Torn Paper Fanned Whole Again
100 A Trick with Thimbles
103 The Japanese Bowls of Rice and Water
105 The Milk, Wine, and Flag Mystery
107 The Magic Bricks
109 Magic Paper Rings
110 Tao-Li Tao
111 Suspension and Disappearance of a Rabbit
112 The Magic Ball
114 Another Obedient Ball
115 A Travelling Glass of Water
118 William Tell Eclipsed
120 The Charmed Organ Pipes; or, the Magician’s Banquet
122 The Telephone Illusion
124 The Indian Hubble-Bubble Jar Mystery
125 The Drum Which Can’t be Beaten
128 Black Magic
133 The Burmese Gong

138 A Chat With Hercat: From The Era