The Ultimate Sphinx

[Jack Shalom]

I've written a review you may enjoy about The Ultimate Sphinx. It's a review of the CD compilation of fifty years of the seminal magic magazine, The Sphinx.
You can read the review here:
http://jackshalom.net/2015/05/17/the-sphinx-speaks/

[Philippe Billot]

About the Three Card Monte, you write :

"While I had no doubt that the three-card monte was alive and well as a scam in 1902, it was very surprising to me to learn that it was being performed as entertainment that early on. I wonder if someone can tell me of any earlier references to monte as an entertainment."


In More Magic published by Pr Hoffmann in 1890, he writes page 51:

THE ThREE-CARD TRICK.
This is more of a sharper's than a conjurer's trick, but it is a frequent experience with any one who is known to dabble in sleight of hand, to be asked, "Can you do the three-card trick ? " It is humiliating to be obliged to reply " No, I can't," and moreover the trick, neatly performed, may be made the occasion of a good deal of fun.

[Jack Shalom]

Thanks very much, Phillipe. So it was already commonplace as entertainment even before the turn of the century. I wonder how far back we can trace it.

[Philippe Billot]

In Magic No Mystery, published in 1876, we can read :

THE THREE-CARD TRICK.
We explain here one of those tricks of gamblers which, thoagh as old as cards themselves, deceives hundreds every week at race-courses, in hotels, &c.

"A priori", it's not a trick for entertainment, it's "A Gambler's Trick Exposed"

[Tom Sawyer]

Hi All,

I find this thread interesting, in part because it kind of intersects with two of my main magic interests, namely Professor Hoffmann and Edwin T. Sachs.

Interestingly, in Modern Magic (page 76), Professor Hoffmann outlines the methodology, but he says: “This well-known trick has long been banished from the répertoire of the conjuror, and is now used only by the itinerent sharpers who infest race-courses and country fairs.”

In Sleight of Hand, Edwin T. Sachs mentions the “three card trick” and suggests using “the change” (“Second method”) in performing it (in an entertainment context). He also says (in the first edition): “Méhay, the Austrian conjuror, executes this to perfection.”

The first edition of Modern Magic appeared in 1876, and the first edition of Sleight of Hand appeared in 1877, but the serialized versions of the foregoing treatments were somewhat earlier.

--Tom Sawyer

[Philippe Billot]

In Les Tricheries des grecs dévoilées (Card Sharpers Exposed) published in 1861 by Robert-Houdin, after he explained the three card trick, concluded :

"Cette tricherie ne se fait plus que dans les cabarets depuis que la police en a défendu l'exhibition sur la place publique."

This little trick is now confined to the low public houses, the police forbidding the exhibition in the streets.

May be that at time, in France, magicians begin to use it for entertainment.

[Jack Shalom]

Here's my second installment, surveying The Ultimate Sphinx:

http://jackshalom.net/2015/05/25/the-ul ... nx-part-2/

[Jack Shalom]

Here's the latest, next-to-last wild gallop through The Sphinx in this series:
http://jackshalom.net/2015/06/07/the-pe ... nx-part-3/

[Jack Shalom]

The new and final (Thank God!) installment of my survey of The Ultimate Sphinx is now available for reading here:

http://jackshalom.net/2015/06/20/the-sp ... ps-part-4/

[Richard Kaufman]

Jack, a few things re your review:

Lybrary.com was selling a digital version of The Sphinx before the Conjuring Arts Research Center.

The first place the real news was published about Mullholland, including the manual he wrote for MK ULTRA, was in Genii in an article written by Michael Edwards, which preceded by YEARS the book that got all the publicity. The entire MK UlTRA text was later published in Magicana.

[lybrary]

Jack, you might also be interested to know that CARC is a massive and blatant copyright infringer. For example, they sell acces to Tops and New Tops, but Abbott (Greg Bordner) has never given them permission. They sell access to Abra, but Davenport has never given them permission. They have at various times (most recently earlier this year) given access to magazines I own (formerly owned by Martin Breese) such as The Magic Wand, Pabular, Pentagram, Spell-Binder etc.

Anybody who supports CARC supports a copyright infringer. Is that the kind of thing you are proud to do?

[Ted M]

Chris,

Jack didn't mention CARC here at all.

If anything, his jaunt through the Sphinx may encourage others to try looking into the old magazines.

Since you sell many of them, this could be a boon to you -- if your attitude doesn't alienate your potential customers.

[lybrary]

Ted, that is your standard response. When somebody infringes my rights you say I should be happy about it. Well, I am not. I think more people need to know about such misconduct, even if you don't like it.

[Jack Shalom]

Richard,

I remember well the Genii publication of the Mulholland CIA document. Many thanks for that. As for the Robinson book, I indicated in the blog post that I had not read it yet, so I had no way of evaluating its claims. I jokingly referred to "Ever-Reliable Wikipedia" as my source for the comments that got me interested in Robinson's book. I'll certainly read the Edwards article and compare the claims of the two authors. Thanks for the heads up.

Chris,

I obviously have no interest in supporting copyright infringement. Nor do I have a dog in this race.

I recognize that Chris has been selling digital copies of The Sphinx long before CARC, and that bound copies were available way before that. What CARC has done has made the complete file affordable.

Now, if it's true that CARC is infringing copyright, then of course I would be appalled by their actions. I don't think, however, it was negligent of me to assume that CARC had the right to put out their version--best I know, they are a reputable group of magic scholars. If I'm wrong about that, I'm wrong. I suspect a whole lot of other people would be surprised as well. If what you say is true, then this isn't just a one-off, but a pattern of ripping off.

That said, Chris, I think the proper place for that conversation should not, initially at least, have been here. I think I deserved at least a private communication first, rather than an accusation. You posted on my blog asking whether I was aware of your index, and I politely said no, please tell me about it, which you did in the comments section. I had no idea that you felt that CARC was ripping you off until right now.

[lybrary]

And that is exactly why I am posting this here, so that more people learn about this. The infringement is massive and goes on for years. Regarding the infringements on my rights I could certainly say a lot more and go more into detail. If you want to verify the infringement of Abbott and Davenport rights you only need to call them. Their contact information is on their website. I spoke with Greg Bordner, owner of Abbott, about this just the other day.

My apologies to you personally. But I think you can understand my frustration with this situation, when an organization is applauded while they have no respect for copyrights.

[Jack Shalom]

And what is Kalush's take on this?

[lybrary]

Why don't you ask him?

[Jack Shalom]

I will be sending a letter by snail mail to CARC, asking them their position.

[Ted M]

Chris, can you clarify whether you claim exclusive rights to the Sphinx, which is the magazine which Jack was writing about in this thread?

[lybrary]

I don't claim any rights to the Sphinx which is in the public domain. However, I claim rights to a number of other magazines which CARC infringed. And since CARC is the publisher of the Ultimate Sphinx I feel it is appropriate to bring up their misconduct.

[Ted M]

Thanks for clarifying.

I'm glad that CARC's Sphinx is legit, and I'm glad that I own it for $50:

http://shop.conjuringarts.org/store/pc/ ... ategory=13

Although I see that Lybrary.com's edition of the Sphinx, likewise legit, has been priced to match and includes the hand-assembled index to boot:

http://www.lybrary.com/the-sphinx-p-80.html

It's good for magic to have its history available and accessible.

[lybrary]

Ted, are you not even a little bit concerned that CARC is pirating all that content?

[Ted M]

Ted, are you not even a little bit concerned that CARC is pirating all that content?

Right here I'm more concerned that you've hijacked Jack's thread about reading The Sphinx to serve as a platform for your business dispute that doesn't even involve The Sphinx.

If you want to fight with CARC in public view, then start your own thread to do it.

[Dan Smith]

Chris,

Many people know me for having spent many years developing the software for Ask Alexander. I have no personal beef with you but I find your shadowy accusations annoying, and likely libelous.

CARC just posted the following note in the Copyright Policy link available on each page of the site:

There have been some unsubstantiated rumors posted online claiming that Conjuring Arts infringes on copyrights. We assure the users of Ask Alexander that we do NOT knowingly ever infringe on copyrights. Specifically it’s been claimed that we are allowing access to Abra, Tops, New Tops and various Martin Breese properties without permission.

In fact we have been given permission to include Abra by Fergus Roy of Davenports who we believe in good faith to own these rights. Further, Tops and New Tops magazines are owned by Abbott’s Magic of Colon Michigan and we have arranged permanent access through Greg Bordner who is Abbott’s owner. Additionally we have been given permanent irrevocable permission to allow access to many magazines and publications owned by Martin Breese. We have included access to these publications at various levels of Ask Alexander.

If you have other copyright issues, please raise them to CARC and get them resolved.

Further:

lybrary wrote:
Ted, are you not even a little bit concerned that CARC is pirating all that content?

Chris, perhaps while venting your copyrighteous indignation you could explain why lybrary.com sold pirated PDF copies of Kalush & Sloman's The Secret Life of Houdini for six years: Ref. https://web.archive.org/web/20071127143616/http://www.lybrary.com/secret-life-houdini-making-americas-first-superhero-p-697.html

Apologies to Ted and Jack for continuing this detour.

Dan Smith

[lybrary]

Dan, that certainly needs a reply because it is in direct conflict with information I have:

1) Regarding the Houdini book: We source for many years ebooks from Ingram. Currently we have about half a million ebooks from them in our catalog. For example, that is the source for our Dover magic ebooks. For several years we had the license from Ingram to sell the Houdini ebook you are referring to, because Atria Books provided it to Ingram. No infringement there. We have a retail agreement with Ingram. Anybody is free to verify this with Ingram.

2) Tops and New Tops: This is in direct conflict with my phone call with Greg Bordner just a week ago. He said that there were negotiations but no permission has ever been given.

3) Abra: Upon informing Davenports in 2013 about the fact that Abra was in the CARC database I received this response:

--------
"Thank you for this, which is something that I really was not aware of.

I am very grateful for your offer of assistance. Could you leave this with
me for now - I will have a chat with the other members of my family to
decide our next step.

We supported Abra for a number of years, putting a large amount of both
time and money to keep it going as we felt it served a useful part in
magic. It eventually became too much of a financial burden, which is why
we eventually, reluctantly closed it down. We had a number of people who
contributed to the magazine simply to support its moral purpose, so I am
upset that their work is being undermined in this way. I would like to in
some way perpetuate Abra's legacy, so I do note your interest."
--------

If CARC has in the meantime received permission good for you. But it does not eradicate the fact that for many years it was available without permission.

4) Martin Breese contents: Martin Breese gave for a very short time permission to include his magazines in CARC, because HE WAS MISINFORMED BY CARC about what would happen with the contents. Once he found out he immediately withdrew his permission. However, for many years before that event ever took place, CARC included the Martin Breese magazines without any attempt to ask permission. That means years of piracy. CARC does currently not have any permission to include any of the digital magazines formerly owned by Martin Breese. CARC has also received that information via my lawyer.

CARC is therefore in violation of several copyrights.

[Dan Smith]

Chris,

There is indeed a contradiction regarding The Houdini book. Simon and Schuster has previously said they sent Lybrary a cease and desist letter in 2013 to stop selling the book. Ingram today confirmed they have a business relationship with Lybrary, but said they never sold The Secret Life of Houdini in any digital form and that they do not sell pdf downloads. Maybe it was sold by a different publishing sub-group? Can you private message me a contact at Ingram so we can get a consistent answer?

Apologies for the further diversion to this thread. I raised the issue so I want to resolve it. If my assertion is wrong, I'll gladly report that here and apologize.

Dan

[Bill Mullins]

This thread saddens me. I'm a big fan and satisfied customer of both CARC and Lybrary. Bill Kalush, Dan Smith, Ricky Smith and the staff at CARC are good people and friends, and if I'd ever met Chris, I'm sure I'd say the same of him; at least, all of our emails have been friendly and we share common interests. Both CARC and Lybrary are doing good things for magic by taking obscure and rare texts and making them easily available to researchers and readers like myself.

Whether or not a given copy of a work is an infringement is far more complicated a question than can be answered on an internet forum. I hope Chris and CARC can work this out, but this isn't the spot to do it.

By the way, has anyone read Jack Shalom's blog posts on The Sphinx? They are worth taking a look at.

[lybrary]

The entity at Ingram that deals with ebooks is called 'Ingram Content'. "The Secret Life of Houdini" was made available to us on 2007-10-18 under SKU 5551573370. I invite everybody who does not believe me to contact Ingram and verify this.

Bill, yes, it is sad, but it has been going on for too long and too much content is being pirated. We are not talking one or two books here, we are talking about tens of thousands of pages of entire runs of several magazines. It is massive, it is outrageous and it needs to stop.

[Bill Mullins]

Bill, yes, it is sad, but it has been going on for too long

Kinda like this derail.

Seriously, go look at Jack Shalom's blog.

[Jack Shalom]

Thanks, Bill.

[Dan Smith]

Final words.. I confirmed with Ingram Content that Lybrary had an agreement to sell encrypted PDFs from 2007 to 2010. Apologies to Chris for raising this topic publicly first and not through a private phone call, which we eventually had. Naturally, I speak only for myself and not any other parties. - Dan