card on ceiling history ???????

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jim rainho
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card on ceiling history ???????

Postby jim rainho » September 5th, 2014, 2:53 am

Just found on Wikipedia that baseball player Carl Zamloch (1889 - 1963) was also a pro magician. Article states that he was the inventor of the card on ceiling ?????? Is this info correct? New to me!
What is the scoop???????

Philippe Billot
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby Philippe Billot » September 5th, 2014, 3:20 am

According to the Potter's Index, this trick was first described in Magic at Home by Ridgum Funnidos published in 1870. See here:

http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia ... ng_or_Wall

But I must confess that I haven't this book. If someone can check...

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erdnasephile
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby erdnasephile » September 5th, 2014, 6:08 am

Jim:

Please see: http://www.conjuringcredits.com/doku.ph ... on_ceiling

Bill Kalush says it dates back to 1654.

Philippe Billot
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby Philippe Billot » September 5th, 2014, 8:38 am

Thanks Erdnasephile for the reference of La Maison Académique.

I found the trick page 161 under the title :

Autre jeu pour faire tenir au plancher la carte qu'un de la compagnie aura songée.

It's confusiong because the author use the word "plancher" for ceiling but the other side of the roof is also the ceiling

for this trick, a force is used (preignante card).

Edwin Corrie
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby Edwin Corrie » September 5th, 2014, 7:00 pm

Philippe, are you sure they are using "plancher" for the ceiling, not the floor? It sounds interesting - is the text available online?

The Card on Ceiling is also in "HOCUS POCUS kürtzweilige approbirte Kahrten-Künste" (1669), which was the German translation of "Hocus Pocus Junior" with additional material. Another early source (a bit more recent) is Eckartshausen's "Verschiedenes zum Unterricht und zur Unterhaltung für Liebhaber der Gauckeltasche, des Magnetismus, und anderer Seltenheiten" (1791). Both of these clearly refer to the ceiling ("Decke").

Philippe Billot
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby Philippe Billot » September 6th, 2014, 3:25 am

Hi Edwin

In the version of 1702 that you can download at this adresse :

http://books.google.fr/books/about/La_M ... xAAAAAcAAJ

Edwin Corrie
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby Edwin Corrie » September 6th, 2014, 8:01 am

Thanks Philippe. Another one for the collection.

Correction to my last post: Actually the Hocus Pocus book was not a translation of the English one, but a completely separate collection of card tricks which I think was later put together with the German version of Hocus Pocus Junior. The text is reproduced as an appendix in Detlef Hoffmann's "Karten zum Zaubern".

Sebastian B
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby Sebastian B » September 6th, 2014, 8:55 am

In Jays Journal of Anomalies you can read a fascinating articel about the english magician Isaac Faweks (1700). One of the tricks he performed and was well known for was the card on ceiling. I dont belive he was the inventor of this trick.

Philippe Billot
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby Philippe Billot » September 6th, 2014, 9:51 am

He can't be because he was born circa 1690 and the book La Maison Académique was first published in 1654

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Reinhard Mueller
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Re: card on ceiling history ???????

Postby Reinhard Mueller » December 9th, 2014, 5:21 am

Edwin Corrie wrote:Philippe, are you sure they are using "plancher" for the ceiling, not the floor? It sounds interesting - is the text available online?

The Card on Ceiling is also in "HOCUS POCUS kürtzweilige approbirte Kahrten-Künste" (1669), which was the German translation of "Hocus Pocus Junior" with additional material. Another early source (a bit more recent) is Eckartshausen's "Verschiedenes zum Unterricht und zur Unterhaltung für Liebhaber der Gauckeltasche, des Magnetismus, und anderer Seltenheiten" (1791). Both of these clearly refer to the ceiling ("Decke").


... and to be verbal accurate: there is not to read "DECKE", but "VERDECK"(which means, I quote: "Bedeutung: Wagendach[n] Wagendecke, Autodach, Wagenplane, Hardtop, Plane, Verdeck")and "BALCKEN".

I have here a reprint "Hocus Pocus oder Der curiöse Karten=und und Taschenspieler", which is a photomechanical reprint of the pages 85-360 from Eberhard Welper: "Das Zeitkürzende Lust- Und Spiel-Haus" (Frankfurt about 1690). On page 14 there is "the card on ceiling" ("Verdeck" and "Balcken").


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