Royal Road, Card College....other?

[odomenech]

What do you recommend as the introductory volume to card magic?

[Guest]

Scarne "on card tricks"
Garcia and Schindler "magic with cards"
Any dover publication really.
"Encyclopedia of card tricks" is good.

[Richard Hatch]

The above are all good if one is primarily interested in relatively sleight free effects. For a good grounding in the fundamental sleights, you can't beat Card College and Royal Road, but as alternatives, I also like Bill Turner's HOW TO DO CARD TRICKS (originally issued as THE CARD WIZARD) and the card sections of Henry Hay's classic AMATEUR MAGICIAN'S HANDBOOK. With some grounding and motivation, the serious student will want to tackle Erdnase's EXPERT AT THE CARD TABLE, available in many editions, Darwin Ortiz's ANNOTATED ERDNASE being particularly useful to the student. The Turner and Hay books, though out of print, were mass market publications that are not too difficult to locate at reasonable prices. Try www.bookfinder.com for those if your favorite dealer doesn't have them. The Ortiz Erdnase is in print and available from most dealers.

[Guest]

I'm a big fan of "Counts, Cuts, moves, and Subtlety" By Jerry Mentzer myself. There is also a book called "Packet Tricks" that goes nicely with it, but I can't find m,y copy and don't remember the author. Of course all of that pertains to packet tricks, which are card tricks.

Drew Heyen, Magician

[Guest]

I like the Bill Turner book, How To Do Tricks With Cards, too. Also the Henry Hay book.

An alternative is Card College. It costs more than the second-hand paperbacks, but it's worth it.

[CHRIS]

The best bang for the buck is probably Royal Road to Card Magic It is hard to beat the $5 for the ebook, given the excellent contents.

However, if you are really serious about card magic you should go for the Card College series. It is more expensive than the Royal Road, but much more detailed and much more carefully described.

For further advanced card work I suggest Card Control by Buckley, an often overlooked book. Steven Youell has recently emerged as a fine teacher of advanced concepts, see Advanced Card Techniques . Peter Duffie has also recently released a wonderful collection of cool moves Move Mastery 1 . And the classic Expert Card Technique shouldn't be forgotten either.

If you are after a particular move, say the bottom deal, then nothing can beat The Artanis Bottom Deal which was probably the first multimedia description of a move, integrating text, photos and audio. For the pass you might want to take a look at The Invisible Pass .

If however, you are more looking for great plots, effects and routines, you should study Hofzinser\'s Card Conjuring and New Era Card Tricks .

If on the other hand, gambling plots and themes are your thing, take a look at Expert at the Card Table and Angels May Shuffle but the Devil Still Deals .

And that is just the tip of the ice berg.

Best,
Chris....

[Robert Toomer]

How about Harry Lorayne's Close-up Card Magic. Can't go wrong with that book. Just my humble opinion. Thanks, Robert.

[odomenech]

Thank you all for the great advice. I am still trying to find the style of magic that is right for me, so advice that broadens my horizons is specially useful. I chose to stick with Royal Road to Card Magic since I already own it. My question came about mostly as a result of people telling me it is not a good book and I should use Card College.

Again, thank you all for the great advice and I hope that some of you will provide some equally good advice to my next post which deals with another area of magic I am interested in exploring.

[Guest]

That's a good choice, Omar. Although I would still recommend you to get Henry Hay's "Amateur Magician's Handbook" if you don't already have it. It is a terribly must-have, for any kind of magic... especially the performing tips.

Nakul

[Guest]

The Hay Amateur Magician's Handbook was terribly mis-titled by the publisher, which probably serves to keep its fine information out of the hands of the merely curious. There is so much good information in this excellent hardcover that I would suggest that it be the proverbial "desert isle" book, even over the marvelous Greater Magic. Hay's explanations on card and coin work are super, and he doesn't waste time teaching you things you don't need. The coverage on billiard balls and other types of balls is great too, and the mental magic section is a fine overview of mainstay mental techniques and effects. Hay's attitude was to teach sleight magic well, with very few props or gear necessary, and so it would indeed be my desert isle book. I would go so far as to say that this book would be a fantastic single volume on magic if you could only have one.

Sells for $10 usually, in hardcover! Don't pass it by, as Hay's card descriptions are easier to grasp than Hugard's and Braue's, and you can use what you learn from Hay to make H&B Royal Road easier to understand.

One man's opinion,

Jon