Search found 360 matches

by Tom Sawyer
August 22nd, 2023, 4:44 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Tom Sawyer contact info
Replies: 5
Views: 3148

Re: Tom Sawyer contact info

Hi All, I have written to Geno. Thanks to Richard Kaufman for the PM. Also thanks to Dick Hatch, who sent me an email. It feels strange to me to be the subject of a thread like this, what with me being highly (I almost said "pathologically") introverted. I had to laugh at the reference to ...
by Tom Sawyer
August 18th, 2023, 5:50 am
Forum: Light From the Lamp
Topic: Martin Gardner Bibliography
Replies: 10
Views: 30504

Re: Martin Gardner Bibliography

Hi All, The above post of Bill’s reminded me of something that I think may be an unpublished project of Martin Gardner’s from long ago (like decades). I’m sure that “somewhere” I have correspondence related to it, but anyway Martin created more than forty annotations for a planned reprint of Profess...
by Tom Sawyer
July 27th, 2023, 11:21 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, As Dick Hatch indicated, Mike Perovich’s video is definitely interesting, and a lot of what he says in the video is difficult to argue against, even though quite a bit of it is at variance with some of the theories discussed here on the Erdnase thread. I have corresponded with Mike about Erd...
by Tom Sawyer
July 21st, 2023, 5:17 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Effective last night, a new version of my 2015 Rethinking S.W. Erdnase is now available as a very nice hardcover on Amazon for $36 per copy (plus shipping and tax). Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCCPJJ62/ To be clear, this is not my third edition of S.W. Erdnase: Another View , fo...
by Tom Sawyer
July 17th, 2023, 8:26 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Clay, muchas gracias, compadre. —Tomás
by Tom Sawyer
July 17th, 2023, 6:14 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, As we know, Stillman B. Jamieson was a key person with respect to the Jamieson-Higgins Co. (For Erdnase enthusiasts, his brother, S.W. Jamieson, is likely more important, since S.W. filled out the copyright application for The Expert at the Card Table . All of that is covered elsewhere on th...
by Tom Sawyer
July 12th, 2023, 6:31 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Roger M., thank you for the very kind comments regarding my S.W. Erdnase: Another View ! I do appreciate that. Also, as an FYI to anyone who might be interested: As I mentioned in a post here back in April, I am working on a reprint of that book. It will actually be more than a mere reprint,...
by Tom Sawyer
July 9th, 2023, 12:52 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Roger, thanks for your comments on the Erdnase “age” question! On a different subject . . . I was recently looking at two of Jeff Busby’s marketing items for The Man Who Was Erdnase . One of them is eight pages (four sheets, two sides, stapled in the upper-left corner). Looking through it al...
by Tom Sawyer
July 7th, 2023, 7:21 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, I've been thinking about S.W. Jamieson. He was born August 3, 1880 (this was stated by mam, based on a passport application). This would appear to make Jamieson 21 years of age when the book was published. Based on something Dick Hatch mentioned in an email recently, I got to wondering what ...
by Tom Sawyer
June 30th, 2023, 6:40 pm
Forum: Buzz
Topic: The Wizard's Tower, by Professor Hoffmann—now on Amazon US . . .
Replies: 0
Views: 530

The Wizard's Tower, by Professor Hoffmann—now on Amazon US . . .

Hi All, I wanted to alert you to the fact that I recently “reanimated” my Victorian-Age conjuring-books blog, which I call “The Armchair Bibliographer.” That blog has been moribund for over a decade, or at least I can say that the most recent post (till earlier this month) was more than ten years ag...
by Tom Sawyer
May 26th, 2023, 5:04 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, This is an update on my post here of April 30, 2023, where I said, in part: Probably in connection with that, last night I was looking through the remnants of a book that John Luckman gave me (or sold to me for some super-low price, but I think he gave it to me) of the Fleming edition of the...
by Tom Sawyer
May 25th, 2023, 4:34 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Richard Evans: Sounds great!

On another topic, I just saw this on eBay, a 1934 (on title page) Erdnase. It has some pencil markings, but still I doubt that the book will be there for long:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235024731701/

—Tom
by Tom Sawyer
May 1st, 2023, 4:56 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Brad, that's great information. Thank you! I found a signature of Ranald MacDougall on eBay, and it definitely was quite different from the writing under discussion, so the writing wasn't his. I found many signatures of Nanette Fabray on eBay, many with an additional word or brief phrase. At that po...
by Tom Sawyer
April 30th, 2023, 4:41 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Some of you might be interested to learn that among the projects I’m now working on are (a) a reprint of S.W. Erdnase: Another View and (b) an enlarged version of Rethinking S.W. Erdnase . Probably in connection with that, last night I was looking through the remnants of a book that John Luc...
by Tom Sawyer
April 25th, 2023, 5:12 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, This post has to do with William J. Hilliar and (mainly) Drake. There was some question eons ago about Hilliar’s role in Drake’s version of Robert-Houdin's Card-Sharpers: Their Tricks Exposed, or the Art of Always Winning . I haven’t seen a Drake version, but the Hathi Trust Digital Library ...
by Tom Sawyer
April 19th, 2023, 5:28 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, I tend to agree with what Roger says in the post immediately above. But considering the realities of life, I believe it is unlikely that Erdnase’s identity will be uncovered during, say, the next decade. I can’t recall with exactness, but after the various bankruptcy papers appeared (for whi...
by Tom Sawyer
April 7th, 2023, 7:56 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, I was looking at some older posts recently. It’s interesting that some aspects of the Erdnase discussion are talked about in detail, and then are dropped, but the dropping isn’t necessarily an indication that the topic has been exhausted. That’s my impression, anyway. The file folder that Ja...
by Tom Sawyer
February 1st, 2023, 4:33 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Bill, honestly, that's a big relief. Some will be disappointed that the search has come to an end, but not me.

Finally, this thread can be locked, and we can all turn our attention to other matters.

—Tom S.
by Tom Sawyer
December 15th, 2022, 7:04 am
Forum: Magic History and Anecdotes
Topic: Later Magic - Hoffmann
Replies: 5
Views: 3301

Re: Later Magic - Hoffmann

Hi All, It looks like the most recent post in this thread was a shade over fourteen years ago, so the thread has been moribund for quite a while, but I thought I might throw in a few comments. 1. Regarding the illustrator of Professor Hoffmann's Later Magic (554-page versions and 738-page versions),...
by Tom Sawyer
December 13th, 2022, 9:58 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Richard Evans: You said— I'm considering how best to share the large amount of information I've gathered to support this. It's not clear to me whether you are asking for suggestions, or whether you are just contemplating that on your own. I'm not sure I myself would make any recommendations,...
by Tom Sawyer
December 5th, 2022, 6:57 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, As “everybody” knows, there is a reference to “Hoyle” in Erdnase. It has always been a mysterious reference, because no one (as far as I know) has discovered just what version of Hoyle Erdnase was referring to. I am certain that what I am about to say will NOT answer that question. But hey, ...
by Tom Sawyer
November 26th, 2022, 3:57 pm
Forum: Collector's Marketplace
Topic: Paul Daniels Auction Results
Replies: 8
Views: 1230

Re: Paul Daniels Auction Results

I noticed item 771 as well. I hope the purchaser is happy with the item, but honestly, I myself would have zero interest in possessing that item. (On the other hand, maybe it has some claim to fame that I am unaware of.)
by Tom Sawyer
November 19th, 2022, 6:32 am
Forum: Buzz
Topic: Daily Mail video
Replies: 7
Views: 919

Re: Daily Mail video

Haha, very nice, Mark. Cool that the card was a Joker. This reminds me of a somewhat similar (yet also very different) trick in the enlarged version of Professor Hoffmann's Later Magic , with the heading "To Discover and Pocket (Before Asking Any Questions) the Card Thought of By a Spectator.&q...
by Tom Sawyer
November 19th, 2022, 1:56 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Oh, and speaking of the length of this thread . . . About two months or so ago, I had a little conversation with my daughter regarding this thread. It went something like the following (all of this is just a rough approximation). I said that the thread was really long, and I mentioned to her...
by Tom Sawyer
November 19th, 2022, 12:26 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, First, the "200 pages" thing is quite cool. Next, concerning Chris Wasshuber's printed version of his Erdnase book (as mentioned by Bill Mullins), I haven't thought it through in any depth. However, it's my understanding that so far there has been no charge for an updated version o...
by Tom Sawyer
November 5th, 2022, 5:32 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, I was able to quickly (well, reasonably quickly) find (on the Hathi Trust Digital Library website) digitized versions of a dozen titles published by Jamieson-Higgins Co. None of them had a title page with the obvious inverted-pyramid of The Expert at the Card Table . Here is a relevant link....
by Tom Sawyer
October 28th, 2022, 2:57 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Regarding Dr. Solka’s post immediately above, Bernhard Schmitz is the collector whom Chris Wasshuber mentioned in connection with the ownership of the Gallaway bookplate (the example I posted about several days ago). I clicked on the link in Dr. Solka’s post. It didn’t bring me anywhere I ex...
by Tom Sawyer
October 24th, 2022, 11:04 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, I thought somebody else might bring this up here, but it’s been several days, so I guess I will! Chris Wasshuber, in his newsletter #1053 (10/20/2022), includes some highly interesting information about the location of another Edward Gallaway bookplate. Chris states that a collector of magic...
by Tom Sawyer
October 22nd, 2022, 12:49 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Jon, I saw no bibliography at all in the timeline piece.—Tom
by Tom Sawyer
October 21st, 2022, 11:01 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

By the way, a lot of information on Charlier may be found in David Alexander’s “A Timeline of Magic and Magicians for the 19th and 20th Centuries.” David says: “For details I suggest you pick up any of the books listed in the bibliography which will give far more specificity than possible in a proje...
by Tom Sawyer
October 21st, 2022, 4:49 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Well, to start out with, that Si Stebbins booklet (the one Jon provided the link to) is not a masterpiece of clarity. However, after looking at all uses of the term “shift” in that booklet, I’m pretty sure that Jon’s analysis of the term as used there is correct. One other thing in connection with t...
by Tom Sawyer
October 20th, 2022, 4:39 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Some very good points are made above regarding Erdnase’s use of “pass” and “shift” to refer to the pass. And yeah, it may be a little strange that he says “Charlier shift,” and places it within quotation marks. However, I think that is not an editing or proofreading problem. As far as I can ...
by Tom Sawyer
October 18th, 2022, 4:29 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Bill, nice going on those Sleight of Hand references! Great information.

—Tom
by Tom Sawyer
October 17th, 2022, 5:26 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, I have a third edition of Sachs’s Sleight of Hand with a little "A. Roterberg" tag or sticker on the title page, showing the address 145 Illinois Street. I’m led to believe Roterberg was at that address in the vicinity of 1897-1900, at a minimum. This is based on several references...
by Tom Sawyer
October 16th, 2022, 4:08 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, First, Richard Evans: Thanks for your reply to my preceding post! Next, a few comments about the Charlier pass! More specifically, some of you are probably interested in semi-precise publication dates for a few possible works that Erdnase might have consulted in connection with his descripti...
by Tom Sawyer
October 9th, 2022, 2:44 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Back on the topic of early non-magic ads for The Expert at the Card Table , I see that the Kernan Mfg. Co., a Chicago company, had advertisements for the book in The Billboard and Variety circa 1910 or 1911 or so. Such ads are findable on the fultonhistory.com website, if you search for Expe...
by Tom Sawyer
October 3rd, 2022, 2:59 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Richard Evans, thank you for the nice things you said a few posts back—that was thoughtful of you! Regarding the proof of the title page, Dick Hatch sent an image of that and (I believe) related images to Bill Mullins, so that Bill could post a link, which he did. I believe this was in a pos...
by Tom Sawyer
October 1st, 2022, 3:51 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

Hi All, Roger and Bill, thank you for your kind remarks! Much appreciated by me! Marty Jacobs: Regarding the acorns, I don’t know of any detailed discussions, or at least I can’t think of any. There are a few posts on this thread that touch on the topic, but I doubt whether any of them are earth sha...
by Tom Sawyer
September 28th, 2022, 11:51 pm
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

The situation regarding the verso of the title page is kind of complicated, and I think a lot of the nuances have been explored on this thread (but probably not all that recently). From information posted long ago by Richard Hatch, and from information John Bodine kindly sent me years ago based on f...
by Tom Sawyer
September 28th, 2022, 4:32 am
Forum: General
Topic: ERDNASE
Replies: 8153
Views: 12301935

Re: ERDNASE

I just came up with what might be one of my worst Erdnase-related ideas. Possibly someone else has already discussed this. If you look at “SWERDNASE,” it obviously can be broken into “SWERD” and “NASE.” Wiktionary informs us that “swerd” is an alternative word for “sword,” and that “nase” is a type ...

Go to advanced search