ERDNASE

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rrath1
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby rrath1 » June 21st, 2018, 7:19 pm

Jason England, Thanks for your opinion on my auctions at http://www.webrummage.com. Everyday, we have over 2800 items up for auction on any particular day. Some prices high, some prices low, but our prices are not just made up. We have a staff member who price compares every item we post. Learned this from a antique book dealer in Highland Park, IL 20 years ago. Lesson one, its not what you paid for the book that values a book. Lesson two, the price of the book is valued at what the market is asking for the book on any particular day. Our research shows:

1945 Charles T. Powner Edition $1017.00
About this Item: 1944. (New Jersey Berkeley Heights: The Fleming Book Company 1944). This is the Enlarged Edition printed by The Charles T Powner Company of Chicago. A name and date (from 1947) on the FFEP otherwise a near fine copy in a VG+ D/W with the fugitive red spine faded to a lighter hue and a touch of minor edge wear. A very nice copy indeed. Considered by many magicians and card sharps to be the one essential guidebook to attaining the highest level of card mastery. Uncommon especially in nice condition. A rare find indeed. Seller Inventory # 355490716748
James M Pickard, 21 Grenfell Road, Leicester, LE2 2PA, The United Kingdom. Tel: 0116 2707169. E-mail: JPRAREBOOK@aol.com. $1017.00 plus postage from UK

About this Item: Fireside Publications Limited, Paragon Agencies Co., Toronto, 1945. Paperback. Condition: Good. Reprint. 205 pages. Over 100 black and white illustrations. "Embracing the whole calendar of sleights that are employed by the gambler and conjurer, describing with detail and illustration every known expedient, maneuver, and stratagem of the expert card handler." - from title page. Reprint of the 1902 first edition. Unmarked with moderate wear and external soiling. Binding intact. A quality early copy of this classic work which Gill (307) describes as "Without doubt the single most influential work on advanced sleight-of-hand with cards, and one which totally revolutionized card theory and technique. Still of immense value to modern exponents of card magic, and many of the concepts have yet to be improved upon.". Seller Inventory # 642H1061
Call 1-877-660-6118 or +1-250-245-8959 to order today. We ship in sturdy new cartons with full insurance and tracking. Photos available upon request. Questions? Please ask. Misdescribed items fully refunded. Contact: Jim and Mina Stachow, RareNonFiction.com, 13387 Code Road, Ladysmith BC V9G 1H7, Canada. Note to Canadians: we will not request additional GST or HST. :- Price: $695.00

Priced $678.37
About this Item: 1944. (New Jersey Berkeley Heights: The Fleming Book Company 1944). This is the Enlarged Edition printed by The Charles T Powner Company of Chicago. A VG+ copy in a VG spine faded D/W with shallow chipping at the spine tips (not affecting any lettering). A nice copy. Considered by many magicians and card sharps to be the one essential guidebook to attaining the highest level of card mastery. Uncommon. Seller Inventory # 355490716856 Price: $678.37
Terms of Sale:
James M Pickard, 21 Grenfell Road, Leicester, LE2 2PA, The United Kingdom. Tel: 0116 2707169. E-mail: JPRAREBOOK@aol.com.

This is just three examples of researching a value of a book.

Your estimate of $30.-$40 a book at best. My response is I will offer you $50 per for all seven copies from you, for a 66% return on your purchase price. Nice return, hey? Let me know, will pay-pal immediately.

Bill Mullins
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bill Mullins » June 22nd, 2018, 12:49 am

rrath1 wrote: Lesson two, the price of the book is valued at what the market is asking for the book on any particular day.


When a seller asks a higher price than anyone is willing to pay (such as some of the more expensive copies appearing on Abebooks) over a long period of time, and never sells his copy because no buyer is willing to spend that much, then obviously that high price doesn't represent the "value" of the book.

I think most folks would agree on a definition more like:
The value of something is what an informed willing seller and an informed willing buyer agree upon, without either party being under duress.

Jason England
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Jason England » June 22nd, 2018, 1:02 am

rrath,

I don't doubt you did research. But I think you ran across some other sellers' inflated prices and thought that those must be the "going rates" for that title.

A much better method to determine pricing isn't to look at what people are asking for copies, but rather what they're getting for copies.

One of the sellers you listed (Pickard) is asking $1000 for one copy of the HB 1944 Powner in DJ and $600 for another copy. It's possible that this is the same copy with a price drop; it's tough to tell.

Regardless, in August of 2017 (less than a year ago), that exact copy sold at a major magic auction house in Chicago for the grand sum of...(wait for it)...$50.00. With the hammer fee - $75.00.

That's actually a little less than what I would've thought that book would sell for (I'd have said $100.00). But a room full of informed (thanks, Bill) buyers didn't even go that high.

Even the much rarer plain-wrapper DJ version of that exact same book (1944 Power) in MINT condition only sold for $550. That's about right for that copy in the condition. But $600 for a paperback Powner of any year or condition is preposterous if you know that market.

I'm hoping you find plenty of suckers for your price. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Jason
Last edited by Jason England on June 22nd, 2018, 1:03 am, edited 2 times in total.

rrath1
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby rrath1 » June 22nd, 2018, 1:03 am

That is ideal. In really, as a merchant I do not care if the buyer is informed. And just a FYI they do sell. Many enthusiasts around the world do not care about price. They just want it now. Internet Auction Services LLC isn"t making a profit on informed collector's. 40% of the items we sell are overseas. We have a full time staff making a living. So. In conclusion, I run a business not a hobby.

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Jason England
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Jason England » June 22nd, 2018, 1:08 am

rrath,

Incidentally, if you'd been 10 or even 20% higher than going rates I probably wouldn't have even noticed. I see those all the time. But when you're an order of magnitude off of the going price it's eye-opening to a serious collector like me.

I was only trying to help you actually sell the books in a reasonable amount of time. I wasn't attempting to laugh or point fingers at your prices. Seeing the inflated prices of other sellers is confusing to anyone that doesn't also see those same copies selling at much more reasonable prices routinely.

I'll do my best to keep my eye on your eBay auction, but please let me know if someone pays those prices anytime soon. I'd be very interested in that.

Jason

rrath1
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby rrath1 » June 22nd, 2018, 2:17 am

Jason I apologize.

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Bill Mullins
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bill Mullins » June 22nd, 2018, 1:16 pm

You are right, there are customers for whom convenience and "right now" are worth more than money. If you have cornered that market, good for you.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Roger M. » June 22nd, 2018, 3:00 pm

I've got a couple of dozen assorted K.C. Card, Drake, Firefly, Powner, Frost, etc editions in good to mint condition ... and I'd not value a single one of them at more than $100.00 ... indeed most (if not all) are worth between $35.00 and $85.00.

I've long considered Jason's estimates of assorted EATCT editions cash value as the most credible available.
Many sellers have a higher asking price than Jason notes ... but the actual traffic in EATCT sales and trades occur at or around the prices Jason noted in his earlier post.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Jonathan Townsend » July 9th, 2018, 11:27 am

Another round of text analysis - soon?
https://blog.jonlu.ca/posts/the-federal ... clustering
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bjorn Hanson » July 23rd, 2018, 4:16 pm

Many of us find anything Erdnase related interesting, no matter how obscure, so I thought this might be of interest to some Erdnase Forum followers:

E. S. Andrews is usually described as a "reverse spelling" of S. W. Erdnase.

Whereas an "anagram" is a new word or name created by rearranging letters, and a "palindrome" is a word or name that is the same spelled backward or forward, a "semordnilap" is a new word or name created by reversing the letters of a word or name, so E. S. Andrews is a "semordnilap". ("Semordnilap" backwards is "palindromes".)

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Jack Shalom » July 23rd, 2018, 5:38 pm

Awfully quiet these days.
Should we take evidence of absence from some the absence of evidence?

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Brad Jeffers
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Brad Jeffers » July 23rd, 2018, 5:49 pm

Bjorn Hanson wrote: so E. S. Andrews is a "semordnilap".
I prefer the more mellifluous term anadrome to the clever but rather clunky semordnilap.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 23rd, 2018, 7:49 pm

Perhaps people have just run out of things to write ABOUT ERDNASE.
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Zenner
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Zenner » July 23rd, 2018, 8:08 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:Perhaps people have just run out of things to write ABOUT ERDNASE.


Richard Kaufman wrote:There will be a new candidate announced later this year that will throw everyone into a tizzy. It's not coming from me, but from someone else. Whether it is true or not, time will tell.


We are all still waiting with baited breath! :?
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Kaufman » July 23rd, 2018, 8:46 pm

I have extremely strong doubts about the unnamed candidate, but I assume eventually he will be named.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Jonathan Townsend » July 23rd, 2018, 9:38 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:the unnamed candidate
I hope this one comes with lots of historical context. That's fun to read.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Zenner » July 24th, 2018, 5:31 am

Richard Kaufman wrote:I have extremely strong doubts about the unnamed candidate, but I assume eventually he will be named.


To have any credibility, he will have to have done business with McKinney in 1902; he will have to have knowledge of sleight of hand; there will have to be a link with the name Dalrymple and he will have to be in need of money.

If there is any indication of his height, he will have to be about 5ft 6ins - and he will have to be roughly 40-45 years old.

Oh yes - and he will have to be an American. Several of the candidates already proposed, by people who should have known better, would definitely have had a foreign accent!

I, for one, am looking forward to the new revelation ;)
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Leonard Hevia
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Leonard Hevia » July 24th, 2018, 11:05 am

Zenner wrote:To have any credibility, he will have to have done business with McKinney in 1902; he will have to have knowledge of sleight of hand; there will have to be a link with the name Dalrymple and he will have to be in need of money.


All except the need of money. That was the author's reason for writing the book--if you take it at face value. David Alexander made it clear in his essay: Anyone experienced in publishing can tell you that publishing and selling a book to a small market is not the way to fast money.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Roger M. » July 24th, 2018, 3:51 pm

Folks really need to let the "he needed the money" thing go for good.

It was a sarcastic statement, made as a passing joke by the author.
Anybody reading that comment in the context of the sentences that surround it should get that immediately.

Even in 1902, anybody selling a book for $2 bucks ... and then dropping the price down to a buck within a year certainly wasn't making any money off book sales ... and certainly would have known in advance exactly how little money was to be made in small run, personal publishing ventures.

He didn't need the money.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Zenner » July 27th, 2018, 9:47 am

Roger M. wrote:Folks really need to let the "he needed the money" thing go for good.

It was a sarcastic statement, made as a passing joke by the author.
Anybody reading that comment in the context of the sentences that surround it should get that immediately.

Even in 1902, anybody selling a book for $2 bucks ... and then dropping the price down to a buck within a year certainly wasn't making any money off book sales ... and certainly would have known in advance exactly how little money was to be made in small run, personal publishing ventures.

He didn't need the money.


"Erdnase" (whoever he was) said that he needed money. 116 year later you say that he didn't. You cannot possibly know and therefore you cannot state that as a fact. You say that it was a joke; it's no joke to be in need of money. Your statements of fact can only be your opinions.

I have checked with an online inflation calculator. $2.00 in 1902 equates to $56.77 in 2018. $1.00 equates to $28.38. It wasn't a cheap book that he was touting. If you are in need of money then anything would be welcome.

Even Marshall D. Smith said "that he [was] anxious to save his money", according to Martin Gardner.

If the book had been aimed solely at magicians then it would indeed not produce a lot of money. It wasn't; it was aimed at the general public as well. To anybody with the slightest interest in manipulating cards, to whatever ends they may choose. He wrote the book, he published the book, he got the illustrations done as cheaply as possible - and (if I am correct in it being Benedict) he distributed it as well. It was a money making exercise, whether or not it made as much as he would have liked.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Leonard Hevia » July 27th, 2018, 10:20 am

When you need money, usually that means you need it now--not months from now. There are faster ways to generate needed cash than publishing a book. The author wrote it to show off his skills acquired in the "cold school of experience." As for the author's frugality, the fact that he worked on a budget does not mean he was cash strapped. The wealthy are known to penny pinch. I have seen expensive Euro cars parked at my local thrift shops.

That high $56.00 asking price for the general market didn't work out too well either. Not many copies sold and the price had to be lowered.
Last edited by Leonard Hevia on July 27th, 2018, 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby performer » July 27th, 2018, 10:25 am

He couldn't have been much of a card cheat if he "needed the money"!

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby jkeyes1000 » July 27th, 2018, 1:36 pm

Leonard Hevia wrote:When you need money, usually that means you need it now--not months from now. There are faster ways to generate needed cash than publishing a book. The author wrote it to show off his skills acquired in the "cold school of experience." As for the author's frugality, the fact that he worked on a budget does not mean he was cash strapped. The wealthy are known to penny pinch. I have seen expensive Euro cars parked at my local thrift shops.

That high $56.00 asking price for the general market didn't work out too well either. Not many copies sold and the price had to be lowered.


Leonard (and Roger): Being a proud practitioner of Logic, it grieves me to see you shaming the art with your tendency to jump to conclusions. I have tried to pass on a few tips to you fellows, but alas! You are back at it.

Let us take it slow and easy. Your initial observation--that publishing a book is not the quickest way to make money--is true. However, we cannot therefore assume that the author DID NOT MEAN WHAT HE SAID. The sensible way to proceed is to consider other interpretations that justify the statement. Such as--Though there might have been swifter ways to accumulate cash, they might not have been convenient for him. He might have preferred a more economical approach, a plan which enabled him to use his own skills and make use of printing facilities that were readily and cheaply available.

It is embarrassingly bad logic, to suppose that the phrase "need the money" signifies immediate desperation, and thus--it must be false. No. Your conclusion ought to be a last resort, after exhausting all the other possibilities. And if you do dismiss these intermediary theories, you need to give reasons for rejecting them. You are acquainted with both the Gallaway and the Benedict hypotheses, that explain WHY the author might have regarded publishing as a sensible enterprise (experience, acquaintance, and direct accessibility). Why do you disdain these rational propositions in favour of the dubious notion that your candidate was simply joking? I suspect it is only because you fancy him more than the others. You "sense" or you "feel" that yours is the right one.

Mr. Zenner is correct. It is your opinion and nothing more. Now nobody can say whose guess is more accurate--but yours rely to a much greater extent on intuition. It's just annoying to see you vaunting of superior reasoning skills. You would need to be able to contact the Spirit Of Erdnase in order to know what you claim to know of his intentions.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bob Coyne » July 27th, 2018, 3:14 pm

performer wrote:He couldn't have been much of a card cheat if he "needed the money"!


But he does say elsewhere: "The winnings are known as 'pretty money,' and it is generally spent as freely as water. The average professional who is successful at his own game will, with the sublimest unconcern, stake his money on that of another's, though fully aware the odds are against him. He knows little of the real value of money, and as a rule is generous, careless and improvident."

It sounds like he was talking from personal experience and was in and out of money regularly, with a cycle of winning it and then spending/risking/losing it. If so, the part about needing the money (as a reason for doing the book) might be an exaggeration with that in mind.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby performer » July 27th, 2018, 3:47 pm

Oh, I am sure it was just a bit of a joke. It is exactly the sort of thing that I would have said. However, at this stage I do not wish to confirm or deny that I wrote Expert at the Card Table.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby jkeyes1000 » July 27th, 2018, 4:40 pm

performer wrote:Oh, I am sure it was just a bit of a joke. It is exactly the sort of thing that I would have said. However, at this stage I do not wish to confirm or deny that I wrote Expert at the Card Table.



The reason why we can never presume what Erdnase meant by "need the money" is that EVEN IF WE CAN DETECT A NOTE OF JOCULARITY in his manner, he still might have been telling the truth. He might merely have been laughing off the fact that he was going bankrupt. It is not unusual for jolly souls to make light of their own misfortunes.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Jonathan Townsend » July 27th, 2018, 9:22 pm

Dispersed knowledge or entertainment value... but maybe there's a coded message hidden in the typesetting irregularities?

If you recall the origin of the indian rope trick in the Tribune paper ... the printed page was put to subtle uses even back then.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Jonathan Townsend » July 27th, 2018, 10:59 pm

Bob Coyne wrote:"The winnings are known as 'pretty money,' and it is generally spent as freely as water. The average professional who is successful at his own game will, with the sublimest unconcern, stake his money on that of another's, though fully aware the odds are against him. He knows little of the real value of money, and as a rule is generous, careless and improvident."

...the price. Sounds about like an addiction to risk.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Bob Coyne » July 27th, 2018, 11:06 pm

Jonathan Townsend wrote:
Bob Coyne wrote:"The winnings are known as 'pretty money,' and it is generally spent as freely as water. The average professional who is successful at his own game will, with the sublimest unconcern, stake his money on that of another's, though fully aware the odds are against him. He knows little of the real value of money, and as a rule is generous, careless and improvident."

...the price. Sounds about like an addiction to risk.

yes, seems that way to me too:

Winning is not his sole delight. Some one has remarked that there is but one pleasure in life greater than winning, that is, in making the hazard.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby performer » July 27th, 2018, 11:35 pm

I don't think he ever "made the hazard" whoever the hell he was. He does not sound like any card cheat I ever heard of. He knows too many magic tricks, knows too many sleights and writes in too posh a manner. And if he "needs the money" he may well be a professional magician since most of them are broke.

Any card cheat I ever knew looked like they had just come out of jail, could hardly read let alone write a book, knew about 3 sleights which they did very crudely but was all they needed and didn't know a single card trick.

Sorry Erdnase-----you can't fool me.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Leonard Hevia » July 28th, 2018, 8:28 am

performer wrote:I don't think he ever "made the hazard" whoever the hell he was. He does not sound like any card cheat I ever heard of. He knows too many magic tricks, knows too many sleights and writes in too posh a manner. And if he "needs the money" he may well be a professional magician since most of them are broke.

Any card cheat I ever knew looked like they had just come out of jail, could hardly read let alone write a book, knew about 3 sleights which they did very crudely but was all they needed and didn't know a single card trick.

Sorry Erdnase-----you can't fool me.


I also get that impression from the author, but I think he actually gambled and lost quite a bit. I like to believe he was one of the progenitors of the card magician/gambling expert that continued down the line with MacDougall, Garcia, and Ortiz.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Hatch » July 28th, 2018, 12:37 pm

Leonard Hevia wrote:... I think he actually gambled and lost quite a bit...

He says that was the case in the "Professional Secrets" section when he says that he "bucked the tiger voluntarily" and "began to imbibe wisdom in copious draughts at the customary sucker rates..." and also in the "Short Deck" section where he confesses that this bold ruse cause him "a continuous and protracted run of "hard luck"".

On another topic, this German Film project on Erdnase includes a link to the FISM in Busan (see the bottom of their "Research" page). Did this project have a visible presence therre?
http://www.erdnase-film.com/

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Zenner » July 29th, 2018, 7:35 am

Richard Hatch wrote:He says that was the case in the "Professional Secrets" section when he says that he "bucked the tiger voluntarily" and "began to imbibe wisdom in copious draughts at the customary sucker rates..." and also in the "Short Deck" section where he confesses that this bold ruse cause him "a continuous and protracted run of "hard luck"".


I wanted to ask Ormond McGill about all the stuff he put into his "Psychic Magic" series. Having never seen or heard of anybody doing most of the material in those booklets, I thought that the man himself could elucidate. I got my chance and was most disappointed when he told me that he had never done any of it - not even contact mindreading!

When I showed my surprise, he said, "You don't have to do a thing to be able to write about it." True, I suppose, but I was still disappointed. Erdnase must have been able to do the material in his book in order to demonstrate it for Smith, but his background could well have been made up in order to make it an interesting story. He wrote well and that's why it's still in print and we are still talking about it. Don't forget that he wanted the book to sell - he needed the money ;)

Haven't any of you heard of "author's licence"?
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby performer » July 29th, 2018, 8:10 am

Oh, I strongly suspect that Ormond didn't believe in hypnotism either despite being one of the leading authorities on it! It seems he gave a lecture on it and afterwards someone asked him if he believed the stuff he was saying and he said "of course not!"

And I will never forget the time that Martin Breese once remarked to me , "Gil Boyne (another world renowned authority on hypnotism) sat in that very chair you are sitting in now and told me that hypnotism was bunkum"

And so did another couple of well known hypnotists in Ireland one of whom had written very learned articles on the subject. In fact he studied medicine with my uncle but discontinued his studies. He also told me that hypnosis was baloney and that he had never "hypnotised" a single person in his long career.

You can indeed write about stuff you know little about. The secret is research. However, I think sleight of hand is different. It must be difficult to write about technical moves you haven't mastered yourself although I concede not impossible. Erdnase was obviously a magician and I have grave suspicions that although he may have played cards and lost money he never actually did any cheating. I don't get the vibe from his writing that he had the mentality for it. You should all be looking for a very well known card technician of the time. Probably a member of a magic club somewhere. I should check the membership of the local magic clubs of where he operated. I bet magicians of the day gossiped about who Erdnase was. I am surprised nobody ever asked them while they were still alive.

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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Jack Shalom » July 30th, 2018, 1:01 pm


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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Richard Stokes » August 6th, 2018, 3:19 pm

John Olsson, the Forensic Linguist (hired by Chris Wasshuber) has written a sequel to Wordcrime:

"Grammatical curiosities, lexical quirks, typographic stylings and patterns of use can all give away even the most hard-bitten and careful of criminals. And Olsson doesnt stop there. From the giveaway compound nouns of heavy-handed police statements to the startling similarities displayed in what should be individual office accounts, the police are given a run for their money too. Wordcrime is easy to commit -- and hard to escape. More Wordcrime features a series of chapters where gripping cases are described - involving murder, sexual assault, hate mail, suspicious death and criminal damage. In approachable and clear prose, he details how forensic linguistics helps the law beat the criminals, and how the long arm of the law is prevented from overreaching."

Roger M.
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Roger M. » August 7th, 2018, 5:53 pm

Not sure anybody here puts a whole lot of confidence in Olsson's work as it relates to the hunt for Erdnase.

Olsson seemed to flail a bit in his efforts with Erdnase (at least those that were shared with the community) ... as if he was given a desired result up front, and asked to create a scenario which duplicated that desired result as closely as possible.

Linguistic analysis was terribly compromised by the efforts of a few pundits to try and force Olsson's findings to match-up to pre-ordained personalities - rather than maintain the open mind required of true researchers.

Deserved or not, it's likely Olsson will not soon live down how his name was intertwined with Erdnase over the past few years.

Joe Mckay
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Joe Mckay » August 7th, 2018, 7:05 pm

Following on from what Mark says - I think T. Nelson Downs could be a good shout.

I wonder if the T. Nelson Downs/Edward Tex McGuire Letters would throw up any light? I remember reading them a few years ago. It was a reprint of a 2 issue article from The Linking Ring magazine. Back from around 1971.

Leonard Hevia
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby Leonard Hevia » August 7th, 2018, 8:29 pm

Joe Mckay wrote:Following on from what Mark says - I think T. Nelson Downs could be a good shout.

I wonder if the T. Nelson Downs/Edward Tex McGuire Letters would throw up any light? I remember reading them a few years ago. It was a reprint of a 2 issue article from The Linking Ring magazine. Back from around 1971.


Not likely Downs was Erdnase. He was fairly tall, and most likely touring vaudeville in Europe in 1901 with his coin act. He definitely didn't need the money. Downs was also not at the vanguard of card moves. He was constantly seeking out the secrets of those who knew more than h e did about card gambling maneuvers.

Do you remember what 1971 issue of the Linking Ring that contained that Downs/McGuire correspondence?

performer
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Re: ERDNASE

Postby performer » August 7th, 2018, 10:02 pm

It was definitely not Downs. He was too much of an egotist to have his name hidden . And I suspect he wasn't much of a writer since he even got John Northern Hilliard to write his own book, "The Art of Magic."


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