Books by Victor Farelli?

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Jim Maloney_dup1
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Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » January 16th, 2005, 4:53 pm

Hey folks,
Can anyone help me with info on VIctor Farelli? I'm looking to track down anything written by him. I know he two books on Leipzig ("Thanks To Leipzig!" and "Nate Leipzig's Cards Across"), and a few other books called "Lend Me Your Pack", "Convincing Coin Magic", "The Odin Rings", and "Farelli's Card Magic".

Are there any more titles? And can anyone elaborate on the contents of the books?

Thanks,
Jim

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Kevin Connolly
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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Kevin Connolly » January 16th, 2005, 5:01 pm

He translated and edited Sardina's book, "Where Houdini Was Wrong". Don't know if that is too far off your path.

Good Luck,
Kevin
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Michael Edwards
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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Michael Edwards » January 16th, 2005, 5:10 pm

You might want to add John Ramsay's Routine with the Cups and Balls to your list.

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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Gary Hunt » January 16th, 2005, 5:51 pm

Dont forget my personnel favorite: Magical Bibliographies: A Guide.

Gary Hunt
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Richard Hatch
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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Richard Hatch » January 16th, 2005, 7:35 pm

Originally posted by Michael Edwards:
You might want to add John Ramsay's Routine with the Cups and Balls to your list.
He also wrote up Ramsay's Cylinder and Coins, Triple Restoration, and Three Little Beans. These with Ramsay's Cups and Balls routine, were completely rewritten by Andrew Galloway in THE RAMSAY CLASSICS, also sadly out of print and fetching high prices. He also wrote a monograph called CAN YOU TELL FORTUNES? which I believe is a card trick with a cold reading thrown in... Did he write up Leipzig's Cards Across? He did author NATE LEIPZIG'S CARD STAB. At one time Farelli prided himself on being one of the few (only?) full time writers of magic books for the profession.

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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » January 16th, 2005, 8:05 pm

Originally posted by Kevin Connolly:
He translated and edited Sardina's book, "Where Houdini Was Wrong". Don't know if that is too far off your path.
Possibly off my path, Kevin -- mainly searching out Leipzig stuff, if you haven't figured that out by now. I know he's got the two books specifcally on Leipzig material, and the "Card Magic" book has some Leipzig stuff, from what I understand. Not sure if there's anything in "Lend Me Your Pack" or "Convincing Coin Magic". So far the other books mentioned seem to be outside my area, unless someone tells me otherwise.

Thanks guys,
Jim

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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Edwin Corrie » January 17th, 2005, 9:55 pm

"Farelli's Card Magic" has chapters on Flourishes, Passes, Pass Substitutes, Forcing, False Shuffling, Palming, Second Dealing, Miscellaneous Sleights and Tips, Tricks with the Glide, and Card to Wallet, plus two more chapters of miscellaneous effects. It's 55 pages of small type with lots of slightly dark but reasonably clear photos. Mine's a fourth edition printed by Davenports in two volumes.

Out of curiosity I did some checking and found out that Farelli used to write for the Sphinx and also Hugard's Magic Monthly. The latter had his translation of work on the stripper deck under the title "The Odin Cards".

A couple of other titles:

Controlled Coincidence
Nate Leipzig's Card Stab
Ramsay's Triple Restoration
Ramsay's Cylinder and Coins

See also the following sites:

http://www.martinka.com/martinka/auctio ... asp?ID=479

http://lesarts.du.cirque.free.fr/livresmagie2.htm

The last one looks like it might be a translation of his card magic book. Or perhaps it was written in French first?

Jim Maloney_dup1
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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » January 18th, 2005, 3:25 am

That's right -- I had forgotten that he wrote for The Sphinx. I didn't know about Hugard's M.M., though.

Do you know what's in Controlled Coincidence?

Thanks,
Jim

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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Edwin Corrie » January 18th, 2005, 2:07 pm

Controlled Coincidence was sold as a separate manuscript, but a brief description is included in the Kaufman & Greenberg edition of Greater Magic (page 1070) with a few of Farelli's variations. The idea is that you are able to divine the suit and value of any removed card using the values of the two cards immediately adjacent to it.

There are also a couple of letters from Farelli to Hilliard regarding permission to include material in Greater Magic. He mentions another manuscript called The Master Speller and also an article from The Magic Wand called Syllabus of Spellers.

If it's Leipzig you're after, there's a 1937 letter from him in there too, in which he asks for certain tricks of his not to be included and says he is compiling a book of his own.

Leipzig autobiography:
http://illusionata.com/mpt/view.php?id= ... e=articles

P.S. Sorry, I didn't realise that my previous post duplicated some of the information provided by Richard Hatch earlier in the thread.

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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » January 19th, 2005, 4:03 am

Thanks Edwin.

I'm well aware of the Leipzig material in Greater Magic, as well as the autobiography. I'm in the process of tracking down that book he was writing!

-Jim

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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Philippe Billot » January 20th, 2005, 11:40 am

Here is my list by date.
Is it correct ?
Anyone can tell me the date of "Nate Leipzig Card Across", please.

1929-The Mystic Seven
1930-The Master Speller
1931-Controlled Coincidence
1931-The Odin Rings
1933-Farelli's Card Magic 1
1933-Farelli's Card Magic 2
1936-Lend Me Your Pack
1946-Convincing Coin Magic
1948-John Ramsay's Cylinder & Coins
1948-John Ramsay's Routine with Cups & Balls
1948-Thanks to Leipzig !
1949-John Ramsay's Triple Restoration
1949-Can You Tell Fortune
1950-Where Houdini Was Wrong
1952-Nate Leipzig's Card Stab
1952-Four Little Beans
1953-Magical Bibliographies : A Guide

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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » January 20th, 2005, 12:29 pm

Originally posted by Philippe Billot:
Anyone can tell me the date of "Nate Leipzig Card Across", please.
Thanks for the list. My original post was incorrect -- "Thanks to Leipzig!" is the book on his cards across. "Nate Leipzig's Card Stab" was the other book he wrote specifically on Leipzig. Looks like you have the correct date for both.

-Jim

Philippe Billot
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Re: Books by Victor Farelli?

Postby Philippe Billot » January 20th, 2005, 6:43 pm

The translation of The Odin Cards (Les Cartes Biseautes by Claudius Odin - 1928) begins Vol X, N2, August 1952 and ends Vol XII, N6, November 1954 from Hugard's Magic Monthly.


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