Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

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Spoook
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Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 4th, 2013, 10:52 pm

Please suggest 3 books from the Kaufman & Company Books which I should buy.

Before posting I have searched the internet to gain as much information as possible.

I prefer to do card tricks, but would like at least 1 book with more than cards. I am just beyond beginner skills, but not a solid intermediate card handler. I prefer to do effects which involve little to no table space. I mostly do effects standing up.

My favorite card tricks are effects using cards that aren't really card tricks like Jay Sankey's Carbon Paper and Torn & Restored Card. I also like wild over the top card tricks like card on ceiling and card under table cloth. Even my ACR is over the top as I give the spectator a folded and paper clipped card to hold, before they select a card. At the end of the ACR (which is deja vu themed),I ask them for the card they have been holding. I tell them about how some speculate that deja vu is actually a 4th dimension in which time travel is possible. Then ask them open the folded card which i gave to them before they selected a card. It's their signed card.

I really enjoy the work of Eddie Fechter and Matt Schuillen.


I am supplying you with all this background information in hopes that you can help me by recommending books which would suit my taste and style.

Kaufman & Co is having a buy 2 get a 3rd free sale ... so suggest 3 to me from the books below.

___________________



100% Sankey (Richard Kaufman) $42
Aftercraft: More Card Trickery (J.K. Hartman) $40
Arcade Dreams: Non-Card Magic of Ed Marlo (Jon Racherbaumer) $40
Amazing Miracles of Shigeo Takagi (Richard Kaufman) $45
The Collected Almanac (Richard Kaufman) $60
CoinMagic (Richard Kaufman) $50
Compleat Invocation Vol. 1 and 2 (Tony Andruzzi) $150
Complete Works of Derek Dingle (Richard Kaufman) $55
David Roths Expert Coin Magic (David Roth) $65
Discoverie of Witchcraft (Reginald Scot) $40
Duffie's Card Compulsion (Peter Duffie) $35
Experience of Magic (Eugene Burger) $55.
Feints & Temps of Harry Riser (Ed Brown) $40
Five Times Five: Japan (Richard Kaufman) $45
Five Times Five: Scotland (Peter Duffie) $35
Folding Money Fooling (Robert Neale) $35
Great Balloons (Jean Merlin) $35
Greater Artful Dodges of Eddie Fields (Jon Racherbaumer) $35
Jennings '67 (Richard Kaufman) $40
Looking Glass (Complete File of 4 Issues) $40
MAGIC (Three volumes, indexed, in slipcase, Ellis Stanyon) $250
Magic of Edward Victors Hands (Rae Hammond) $40
Mysteries of My Life: Ren Lavand (Rene Lavand) $50
The New Jinx (Bill Madsen) $60
New Magic of Japan (Richard Kaufman and Phil Goldstein) $45
Now You See It, Now You Don't Notebook (Bill Tarr) $35
Sankey Panky (Richard Kaufman) $35
Sance (Scott Davis) $75
Secrets of Brother John Hamman (Richard Kaufman) $55
Seriously Silly (David Kaye) $50
Sexy Magic (James Hodges) $45
Spirit Theater (Eugene Burger) $50
Stanley Collins (Edwin Dawes) $75
Stanyons Serial Lessons in Conjuring (Ellis Stanyon) $35
Street Magic, Hardcover (Jeff Sheridan/Edward Claflin) $40
Trickery Treats: Card Craft Continued (J.K. Hartman) $40
Vis a Vis, A Jack Avis Book (Jack Avis/John Derris) $40
Williamson's Wonders (Richard Kaufman) $42

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 5th, 2013, 12:58 am

You should buy:

The Collected Almanac
The Complete Works of Derek Dingle
and take Jennings '67 as your freebie.

If you want to add one more, buy The Secrets of Brother John Hamman.
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Bill Duncan » January 5th, 2013, 3:15 am

For the freebie: Sankey Pankey if you don't already have a ton of Jay's videos... or Williamson's Wonders
Both are exceptional books that represent the best work of two really clever guys.

Plus
COINMAGIC
The Collected Almanac

The two above should be required reading for any serious close up magician.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Chris Aguilar » January 5th, 2013, 3:24 am

The Collected Almanac has a wonderfully diverse range of great magic, including a good shot of classic Sankey magic if that's what you like.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Ian Kendall » January 5th, 2013, 4:53 am

Since the poster has indicated that their skill level is somewhere between intermediate and beginner, I would suggest that the Dingle book might be out of reach for now?

My three would be Almanac, Jennings 67 and Williamson's Wonders.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 8:32 am

Bill Duncan wrote:For the freebie: Sankey Pankey if you don't already have a ton of Jay's videos... or Williamson's Wonders
Both are exceptional books that represent the best work of two really clever guys.

Plus
COINMAGIC
The Collected Almanac

The two above should be required reading for any serious close up magician.





I'm not a big Sankey fan, I just happen to really like his effect Carbon Paper.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 8:35 am

So it sounds like Collected Almanac is going to be the first book. I have see it has 175 effects and more than just cards. So I think we have book number 1 selected.

I like the part I read about Jennings '67 having the evolution of the invisible palmed aces effect. Is this the effects where you place an ace on the table and it's three mates travel one at a time invisibly to the table via the invisible palm? If so I don't do that effect, but I find it to be a a beautiful effect.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby erdnasephile » January 5th, 2013, 9:07 am

Hi, Spoook:

My three suggestions:

The Collected Almanac (What everyone else said)
The Secrets of Brother John Hamman (Lots of material that will fool anyone alive that is still within your skill level. Very well written and everything is described in detail.)
Arcade Dreams (This largely underrated book has some pretty commercial routines with stuff you probably already own and is mostly non-cards. Besides, as a beginner/intermediate magician, it's time to get some Marlo via Racherbaumer in ya' :) )

Finally, the fact that a young magician still wants books, gives me hope for the future of magic. Thanks for that, and good luck!

PS: Ian's comment reminded me: There's nothing worse for a beginner than to get to a point in a trick description where you get stuck because you don't know the move. That happened to me years ago with the Dingle book when a routine called for the Ovette Master Move. (This was in the pre-Internet era where it was a lot harder to find info). Still, the effort to do the necessary research to find the move myself not only gave me a greater sense of accomplishment, but it also helped reinforce the value of secrets.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Ian Kendall » January 5th, 2013, 10:04 am

Going back to the poster's statement; he likes to do cards, but wants some non card material. While Arcade Dreams is all non-cards (which was the point), I feel there is much more usable material in Williamson's Wonders (sorry, Jon).

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Pete McCabe » January 5th, 2013, 12:21 pm

I was going to suggest Almanac, Hamman, and Williamson. That list isn't necessarily better than Richard's, but the material in Hamman is probably better suited to the poster's skill level than the Dingle book.

Either way you'll be getting a whole lot of tremendous material for an extremely low price.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 5th, 2013, 12:59 pm

Well, Spoook, you're "spoilt for choice" as the Brits say. I think that's a good thing.

Too bad my next Jennings book "Mr. Jennings Takes It Easy" isn't out yet--it's just what you need.
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby erdnasephile » January 5th, 2013, 2:08 pm

Actually, the third book I really wanted to recommend was "Mastering the Art of Magic" by Eugene Burger. However, I noticed it is apprently OOP.

Would have been perfect for an beginning/intermediate close-up worker.

(To Ian (and others), I think the world of the Williamson book, but doesn't it seem a tad advanced for a beginning/intermediate magician?)

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby JHostler » January 5th, 2013, 2:22 pm

The one inarguable choice is the Collected Almanac - IMO the best single-volume collection of magic ever assembled... by anyone... in any era. Not that I've read everything ever printed, but I simply can't imagine a stronger or more varied work.

And as a bonus, you get Richard's BULL - a fascinating (if sometimes controversial) lens through which to examine that most fertile of periods.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 5th, 2013, 2:42 pm

"Bull" is what you get when a person with Asperger's doesn't know he has it and has no one editing stuff before it gets printed. Ditto for my column in Genii in 1987, although by then Matt Field was reading some things and helped keep my keister out of the fire. :)
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 3:17 pm

erdnasephile wrote:Actually, the third book I really wanted to recommend was "Mastering the Art of Magic" by Eugene Burger. However, I noticed it is apprently OOP.

Would have been perfect for an beginning/intermediate close-up worker.

(To Ian (and others), I think the world of the Williamson book, but doesn't it seem a tad advanced for a beginning/intermediate magician?)


I actually have this book and it's great! All the effects are easy to do, and the focus is on presentation. This book I actually highlighted in while I was studying it. This is the book which got me studying the Magic of Matt Schuillen.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 3:25 pm

So with the Jennings '67 book, exactly what skill level are most of the effects? And can they be done standing up?

Is Palmed Invisible Aces in this book the same effect Wayne Houchin performs know as the invisible palm? Is this the effect who's history we are learning? Or is it an effect more like the homing card?

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 3:43 pm

While reading reviews the Amazing Miracles of Shigeo Takagi really caught my eye.




I do have a couple concerns.

1 - It's only 120 pages and 25 effects. The cost/value concerns me.
2 - It seems to have a good amount of coin effects. I don't really see myself learning anymore than beginner sleight of hand with coins any time soon.



I also have a couple of reasons it fills me with desire.

1 - I have heard good review of the wild card routine in this book. I think it's called wild time? It's an effect that I think might work well with my current presentations as I have several effects already that use the jokers.
2 - I can see myself doing some stand up rope tricks.And this book has several rope tricks.
3 - It's japaneese magic, and I'm sure not to many people here do these effects regularly compared to like a triumph or acr.
4 - It's got a 4 card monte. I already do "be honest what is it" by eddie fetcher but use the 2 card monte theme. I am currently learning 3 card monte, and think 4 card monte would give me a nice monte routine.


What are your thought about this book?

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 3:50 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:Well, Spoook, you're "spoilt for choice" as the Brits say. I think that's a good thing.

Too bad my next Jennings book "Mr. Jennings Takes It Easy" isn't out yet--it's just what you need.


Thanks Mr. Kaufman,

I will be sure to put it on my wish list. I also appreciate your replies to my thread. It's really great to get advice from the man who wrote most of those books and published them. I highly regard your insight into my question.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 5th, 2013, 4:02 pm

The Takagi book is excellent. He never did anything that was very difficult, so it might suit your level of skill. The book also contains a wide variety of material, all of it high quality.

You should never base your purchase on the size of a book versus its price. NEVER. It's the value of the contents that make sense to compare with the price.
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 5th, 2013, 4:05 pm

"Invisible Palm Aces" is nothing like "The Homing Card." Not sure what routine Wayne Houchin performs, but there have been many variations by others of Jennings' original routine.

The section on that routine in the book traces it from Jennings' first version until what he considered the final version. The routine requires palming. LEARN TO PALM. It's good for you, like eating Wheaties.

The Aces in your hand are invisibly palmed one at a time and appear on the table.
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Ian Kendall » January 5th, 2013, 4:23 pm

Wayne does a version of Paul Harris' Invisible Palm Aces on the True Astonishments set. I'm assuming that's the routine in question.

I'll second the Takagi book as excellent. It was a flip between that and the Williamson one. Both have a good mix, and both have material that you will actually use (or at least moves that you will incorporate).

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 4:24 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:"Invisible Palm Aces" is nothing like "The Homing Card." Not sure what routine Wayne Houchin performs, but there have been many variations by others of Jennings' original routine.

The section on that routine in the book traces it from Jennings' first version until what he considered the final version. The routine requires palming. LEARN TO PALM. It's good for you, like eating Wheaties.

The Aces in your hand are invisibly palmed one at a time and appear on the table.


This is the Wayne Houchin routine I was referencing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YRjJkpXFGU

I have been practicing Vernon's topping the deck. Now I just need to figure out some effects where I can try it out.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 4:26 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:The Takagi book is excellent. He never did anything that was very difficult, so it might suit your level of skill. The book also contains a wide variety of material, all of it high quality.

You should never base your purchase on the size of a book versus its price. NEVER. It's the value of the contents that make sense to compare with the price.


Okay so it looks like I have two selections.

1 - The Collected Almanac
2- Amazing Miracles of Shigeo Takagi

Now I just need the 3rd selection.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby erdnasephile » January 5th, 2013, 5:38 pm

Spoook wrote:
This is the Wayne Houchin routine I was referencing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YRjJkpXFGU



Wayne's performance is nice, but what I like least about that video is the credit at the end that reads "The Invisible Palm created by Paul Harris"

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 5th, 2013, 5:41 pm

Oh well!
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 5:51 pm

erdnasephile wrote:
Spoook wrote:
This is the Wayne Houchin routine I was referencing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YRjJkpXFGU



Wayne's performance is nice, but what I like least about that video is the credit at the end that reads "The Invisible Palm created by Paul Harris"



Was that the effect in which Jennings '67 chronicles the history/development?

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby erdnasephile » January 5th, 2013, 9:18 pm

Spoook wrote:
erdnasephile wrote:
Spoook wrote:
This is the Wayne Houchin routine I was referencing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YRjJkpXFGU



Wayne's performance is nice, but what I like least about that video is the credit at the end that reads "The Invisible Palm created by Paul Harris"



Was that the effect in which Jennings '67 chronicles the history/development?


Yes, it is. One of the most valuable things in the Jennings book is that it gives you a step by step insight into how Jennings created this classic routine. It's a wonderful exploration and I found it stimulating to my own creative process. It also teaches the value of respecting the work.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 10:01 pm

Still looking for a 3rd selection.

1 - The Collected Almanac
2- Amazing Miracles of Shigeo Takagi



I am currentley deciding between Jennings '67 & Secrets of Brother John Hamman. Unless somebody has a better suggestion with some reasons to make a convincing argument.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Ted M » January 5th, 2013, 10:17 pm

Whichever one you pick between Jennings and Hamman, that sets you up nicely to take the other + Dingle + Williamson's Wonders with your next order.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby erdnasephile » January 5th, 2013, 10:42 pm

Spook:

Perhaps this will help:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... UCM6qsc388

See the 2:15 mark for a professional performance of a famous routine from the Hamman book. If that kind of lateral thinking appeals, you'll love the book.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 11:07 pm

The video is only 1:30 where is the magical 2:15 mark you speak of?

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 5th, 2013, 11:09 pm

Between Jennings '67 and Secrets of Bro Ham which is more towards the beginner/intermediate skill level? I would also like to make sure there are some effects I can do standing up.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby erdnasephile » January 5th, 2013, 11:39 pm

Spoook wrote:The video is only 1:30 where is the magical 2:15 mark you speak of?


My browser shows the video lasts for 4:43 I just checked the link and it works. Perhaps you might click again? (It should be a Michael Vincent performance)

To answer your question: I think the technical requirements of the Hamman book are somewhat less than the Jennings book overall. (This doesn't mean the Hamman tricks are self-working or that they don't take any less thoughtful practice to master. I'm just talking in terms of the sleights involved).

However, since you KNOW :) you're eventually going to cave and get the Dingle and Williamson books on the next go round, I wouldn't obsess about Hamman vs. Jennings--you can't go wrong with either, IMHO.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby erdnasephile » January 6th, 2013, 12:38 am

Oh, and both books have plenty of material you can do while standing.

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 6th, 2013, 12:44 am

Most of the tricks in Brother Hamman's book are much less physically demanding than those by Derek Dingle. They work their magic through psychology rather than sleight of hand.
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 7th, 2013, 12:13 am

What is the difficulty level of Feints and Temps of Harry Riser?
I saw plenty of non-card material, but I also some some routines with billards balls, golf balls, and a cups and balls.

How are the card effects in the book? There seems to be a lot of 5 card poker effects, which I don't care to preform.

Contents
http://littleegyptmagic.com/feint197.htm


Thanks for your help guys!

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 7th, 2013, 12:18 am

Difficult!
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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 7th, 2013, 1:04 am

DONE

1 - The Collected Almanac
2- Amazing Miracles of Shigeo Takagi
3 - Secrets of Brother John Hamman


'67 Jennings will have to wait :(

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby Spoook » January 7th, 2013, 1:09 am

Next order:

1 - '67 Jennings
2 - 5x5 Scotland
3 - Greater Artful Dodges of Eddie Fields

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Re: Kaufman Reprints - Suggest 3

Postby R.E.Byrnes » January 7th, 2013, 9:34 am

dingle, hamman, almanac


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