The Genii Forum

This is a book printed in 1859 that a used bookstore friend of mine has for sale. I'm interested if the contents is worth studying. Has anyone ever heard of it or read it? Can anyone offer a review?
"THE SECRET OUT"

Here is the SYNOPSIS OF CONTENT

In order to simplify the SECRET OUT, we have classified the Tricks in the following order:

PART I.
Tricks with Cards performed by Skilful Manipulation and Sleight of Hand.
PART II.
Tricks performed by the aid of Memory, Mental Calculation, and the Peculiar Arrangement of the Cards.
PART III.
Tricks with Cards performed by the aid of Confederacy and sheer Audacity.
PART IV.
Tricks performed by the aid of Ingenious Apparatus, and Prepared Cards
PART V.
Tricks of Legerdemain, Conjuring, Sleight of Hand, and other Fancies, commonly called White Magic.
PART VI.
Tricks in White Magic, performed by the aid of Ingenious Contrivance, and Simple Apparatus.
PART VII.
Natural Magic, or Recreations in Science, Embracing Curious Amusements in Magnetism, Mechanics, Acoustics, Chemistry, Hydraulics,
and Optics.
PART VIII.
Miscellaneous Tricks.
A Curious Collection of Entertaining Experiments, Amusing Puzzles, Queer Sleights. Including the Celebrated Science of Second Sight, Recreations in Arithmetic, and Fireside Games for Family Pastime.


It's a usufull book for historic searches.

You can find it in PDF.

Don't confuse with The Secret Out by William Cremer published in 1870.

Thank you. I take it this book is not a lost classic in line with EATCT or The Discoverie Of Witchcraft. Is the Cremer book a completely different book?

It's a well known book but worth buying for its historical value. Many of the material is still usable, though a lot will be familiar from other places or will seem too old fashioned by modern standards. You can get a better idea (or buy the PDF) here:

http://shop.conjuringarts.org/store/pc/The-Secret-Out-by-W-H-Cremer-PDF-p1051.htm#.VGRpSWJdVCA

There's a long but interesting (if you like that sort of thing) discussion about "The Secret Out" at the Magic Café:

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=201072&forum=135

Thank you. I usualy defer to the content over the relic...but it would look beautiful on the bookcase!

The Magic Cafe thread has some discussion about when the American and British editions first appeared. Newspaper ads for the American edition start in late Nov 1859. I'd link to one, but they are behind paywalls -- here is a free one from a few days later.

The earliest British newspaper advertisement I can find for the book is Dec 15, 1870. Again, the actual ad is behind a paywall.

Here is an ad for an Australian bookseller from 1869 -- I wonder if he is importing American copies, or if there was an Australian imprint that predated the British one. And here is a New Zealand ad that predates the UK edition as well.

The UK edition is often credited to Wiljalba Frikell (but he probably had nothing to do with it). Palmer says that Frikell came to America in 1872. (Sidney Clarke, in Annals of Conjuring, says it was in 1876). Actually, his first show in America was in Sept 1873, and he toured until the end of 1874. He had stops in NYC, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Hartford CT, Washington DC, and Boston.

I think Germain got started with that book.

This book played an important part in Nate Leipzig's early study of magic. You can see the starting points for several of his well-known routines in there.