Zig Zagger wrote:Interesting, Paco! Would you share some more thoughts on this?
I think there might be a connection between Roterberg and Dr. Elliott...
Well, let's see:
1- First, I believe that this book was written by a card magician; not by a gambler.
Why would a gambler being interested in writting a book talking about sleight of hand with cards as card magic anonymously? Who would have he wanted to hide from in that case?
Whereas, if he wanted to written a book revealing sleight of hands as gambling, it would be reasonable to do it anonymously (to hide from gamblers), but, why writting about card magic as well?
So, I believe he was principally a card magician.
2- Second, judging by the book itself, I think that the writter was kind of upset about the use of sleight of hand in card gambling for cheating. So, he decided to writte a book showing clearly both aspects. Hence, doing it anonymously.
3- Thrid, I personally disagree with the backward spelling theory.
Why?
I reckon that if someone wanted to write a book anonymously, it wouldn't have much sense to give clues or hints about the author. If the author were a totally unknown person, it would be reasonable to leave some clues for the future, however, I believe that the author was known by the magic community, so that prefering to stay anonymous.
4- Fourth, I think that the backward spelling case is just a coincidence with the German childhood nickname "Erdnase" (the nickname Erdnase in German means 'Earth Nose'), according to the great theory of Chris Wasshuber; see the following document:
https://www.lybrary.com/the-hunt-for-er ... -a-27.html5- Fifth, in "New Era Cars Tricks" was published for the first time "Penetration of Matter," the nowadsys famous and popular card trick in which a card penetrates a handkerchief. Well, 5 years late the same trick was published in "The Expert at the Card Table." This trick has not much to do with sleight of hands, so, why the author selected it for that book being so many great card tricks out there related to sleight of hands?
Well, those are my principal arguments.