Professional Magic for Amateurs (Dover Magic Books)

This book is for the amateur magician who wants to learn (and start performing) well-known tricks that professionals use. Fifty easy yet effective tricks are presented, offering a well-rounded repertoire on which the beginner can draw while developing further interests and skills.
"To explain how magic is done is one thing," Mr. Gibson says in his introduction, "To tell how to do it quite another." In this volume you will be taken through every stage of each trick — an overview, how the trick appears to the audience, the mechanism behind the trick, and finally the presentation details that allow you to perform the trick in a completely professional manner. By carefully following the few simple yet essential tips the tricks will soon be yours.
Emphasis is on tricks that can be performed informally with a small group of friends. There are card tricks of both the setup and impromptu kind, there are tricks with string, handkerchiefs, tumblers, and mental magic where the purpose is "to deceive the mind rather than the eye." A final section on well-known stage illusions shows how the same performance principles are carried to magic on a higher level.
With this book the beginner will be able to perform professional tricks within hours, while even the more advanced magician will find new tricks and new ways of doing old ones. The author draws upon a lifetime in professional magic for his tricks. Not only is Mr. Gibson well known as one of the best writers about magic; he was also long associated with Houdini, the Thurstons, and other great magicians of the past.