The Genii Forum

Just found on Wikipedia that baseball player Carl Zamloch (1889 - 1963) was also a pro magician. Article states that he was the inventor of the card on ceiling ?????? Is this info correct? New to me!
What is the scoop???????

According to the Potter's Index, this trick was first described in Magic at Home by Ridgum Funnidos published in 1870. See here:

http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia ... ng_or_Wall

But I must confess that I haven't this book. If someone can check...

Jim:

Please see: http://www.conjuringcredits.com/doku.ph ... on_ceiling

Bill Kalush says it dates back to 1654.

Thanks Erdnasephile for the reference of La Maison Académique.

I found the trick page 161 under the title :

Autre jeu pour faire tenir au plancher la carte qu'un de la compagnie aura songée.

It's confusiong because the author use the word "plancher" for ceiling but the other side of the roof is also the ceiling

for this trick, a force is used (preignante card).

Philippe, are you sure they are using "plancher" for the ceiling, not the floor? It sounds interesting - is the text available online?

The Card on Ceiling is also in "HOCUS POCUS kürtzweilige approbirte Kahrten-Künste" (1669), which was the German translation of "Hocus Pocus Junior" with additional material. Another early source (a bit more recent) is Eckartshausen's "Verschiedenes zum Unterricht und zur Unterhaltung für Liebhaber der Gauckeltasche, des Magnetismus, und anderer Seltenheiten" (1791). Both of these clearly refer to the ceiling ("Decke").

Hi Edwin

In the version of 1702 that you can download at this adresse :

http://books.google.fr/books/about/La_M ... xAAAAAcAAJ

Thanks Philippe. Another one for the collection.

Correction to my last post: Actually the Hocus Pocus book was not a translation of the English one, but a completely separate collection of card tricks which I think was later put together with the German version of Hocus Pocus Junior. The text is reproduced as an appendix in Detlef Hoffmann's "Karten zum Zaubern".

In Jays Journal of Anomalies you can read a fascinating articel about the english magician Isaac Faweks (1700). One of the tricks he performed and was well known for was the card on ceiling. I dont belive he was the inventor of this trick.

He can't be because he was born circa 1690 and the book La Maison Académique was first published in 1654

Edwin Corrie wrote:Philippe, are you sure they are using "plancher" for the ceiling, not the floor? It sounds interesting - is the text available online?

The Card on Ceiling is also in "HOCUS POCUS kürtzweilige approbirte Kahrten-Künste" (1669), which was the German translation of "Hocus Pocus Junior" with additional material. Another early source (a bit more recent) is Eckartshausen's "Verschiedenes zum Unterricht und zur Unterhaltung für Liebhaber der Gauckeltasche, des Magnetismus, und anderer Seltenheiten" (1791). Both of these clearly refer to the ceiling ("Decke").

... and to be verbal accurate: there is not to read "DECKE", but "VERDECK"(which means, I quote: "Bedeutung: Wagendach[n] Wagendecke, Autodach, Wagenplane, Hardtop, Plane, Verdeck")and "BALCKEN".

I have here a reprint "Hocus Pocus oder Der curiöse Karten=und und Taschenspieler", which is a photomechanical reprint of the pages 85-360 from Eberhard Welper: "Das Zeitkürzende Lust- Und Spiel-Haus" (Frankfurt about 1690). On page 14 there is "the card on ceiling" ("Verdeck" and "Balcken").