Minch, Stephen: The Vernon Chronicles Volume 1: The Lost Inner Secrets ©1987 Bruce Cervon, L&L Publishing, CA Hardcover, w/dj, 235 pages

Image courtesy Bryan-Keith Taylor

Comments: (Omar Domenech): Illustrations and Cover Design by Tom Gagnon. In 1963 Dai Vernon moved to Hollywood and became the "resident living legend" of The Magic Castle. Two young close up artists, Bruce Cervon and Larry Jennings, moved to Hollywood to learn from "The Professor". For three years, Bruce Cervon spent every minute he could with Dai Vernon, learning all of his secrets. At night, he would record everything he learned that day in what would come to be known as "The Castle Notebooks". In this volume, some of the legendary contents of The Castle Notebooks are revealed for the first time. The bulk of this volume is dedicated to Vernon touches on a variety of sleights and techniques. Those little improvements and variations that The Professor made to already existing techniques are explored in-depth. We are also presented with two smaller chapters at the end. One of them deals with card tricks and the other with coin tricks. One other notable feature about this book and the other two volumes that follow, is that they are filled with wonderful photographs of The Professor with his friends, performing, and just having fun.


Contents:

i Foreword (Dai Vernon)
iii Introduction (Bruce Cervon)
vi Introduction (Larry Jennings)
viii Author's Introduction (Stephen Minch)
xi A Visit with Dai Vernon (Elizabeth Wilson)

1 Chapter One: Sleights, Tips and Technique
1 On the Turn of a Card
2 On the Corner-Short
8 On the Scallop-Short
10 Enlarging a Break
12 Breaking at the Injog
15 Rotating the Break
17 The Vernon All-Around Square Up
22 A curious Turnover-Pass
25 The Vernon One-Handed Shift
30 Glimpse from the Twirl Cut
33 Subway Transfer for Two
35 Hindu Transportation
36 The Hindu Double-Undercut
38 The Vernon Multiple False-Cut
41 The Vernon Simple False-Cut
44 On the Push-Through Shuffle
48 Three Loose Lifts
55 On Tabling a Double Card
57 On the Top Palm
58 Capping a Packet
61 Replacing the Top Palm
63 After the Bottom Palm
65 The Arthur Finley Diagonal Palm Shift
68 The Packet-Display Palm
72 Lightening the Load
74 On the Palm Change
76 On the Side Steal
79 The Strip-Out Addition
86 A New Peek Control
89 The Shuttle-Cut Control
90 The Perfect-Pitch False Count
93 The Transfer Force
96 The Breather Crimp
98 On the Second Deal
100 The "New Theory" Double Deal

105 Chapter Two: Among the Amaranths
105 No Sleight Triumph
113 The Second Campaign
117 In Uniform
121 The Ace Addembly
The Slow-Motion Aces - A Reassessment
Aces in Excelsis
136 The Fingerprint Card Trick
139 A Match Made in Cincinnati
144 The Aeroplane Card Trick
149 The Two-Thirteen Trick
155 The Unadulterated Cutting the Aces
160 Spellout with a Hitch
164 The Rising Sun
169 Oil Slick
180 Notes on the Three-Card Monte

185 Chapter Three: Dreams of Mammon
185 The Persistence-of-Vision Coin Vanish
191 Five Coins and a Glass
208 Silk and Silver
226 Slipping the Jit
229 Crossed Destinies

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