The Magician's Own Book, or, the Whole Art of Conjuring

By George Arnold and Frank Cahill

"The Magician's Own Book, or, the Whole Art of Conjuring" by George Arnold, Frank Cahill. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Nov 5, 2021
• ISBN: 4066338068682

Book preview

George Arnold, Frank Cahill

The Magician's Own Book, or, the Whole Art of Conjuring

Published by Good Press, 2022

[e-mail]

EAN 4066338068682

Table of Contents

PREFACE.

INDEX.

THE YOUNG CONJUROR.

SLEIGHT OF HAND.

TRICKS WITH CARDS.

AUDACITY.

TRICKS WITH CARDS, THAT REQUIRE APPARATUS.

HINTS TO AMATEURS.

THE SECRET OF VENTRILOQUISM.

THE MAGIC OF CHEMISTRY.

AMUSEMENTS IN ELECTRICITY, GALVANISM AND MAGNETISM.

EXPERIMENTS IN ELECTRICITY.

EXPERIMENTS IN GALVANISM.

EXPERIMENTS IN MAGNETISM.

THE MAGIC OF PNEUMATICS AND AËROSTATICS.

THE MAGIC OF OPTICS AND OPTICAL AMUSEMENTS.

TRICKS IN MECHANICS.

TRICKS IN HYDRAULICS.

TRICKS IN ACOUSTICS.

THE MAGIC OF NUMBERS

TRICKS IN GEOMETRY.

PRACTICAL PARADOXES AND PUZZLES.

ANSWERS TO PRACTICAL PUZZLES.

THE MAGIC OF ART.

SECRET WRITING.

THE MAGIC OF STRENGTH.

MISCELLANEOUS

INQUIRE WITHIN

The Reason Why: Natural History.

10,000 WONDERFUL THINGS.

The Reason Why: GENERAL SCIENCE.

Live and Learn;

The Secret Out; OR, 1,000 TRICKS WITH CARDS AND OTHER RECREATIONS.

A Book of Never-Ending Entertainment.

THE SOCIABLE; OR, One Thousand and One Home Amusements.

The Perfect Gentleman;

Art of Dancing without a Master;

SONGS OF IRELAND.

DICK & FITZGERALD'S LIST OF PUBLICATIONS.

Judge Haliburton's Works.

Miscellaneous Books.

The Harp of a Thousand Strings

THE BOOK OF One Thousand Comical Stories

Mrs. Partington's Carpet Bag of Fun.

PREFACE.

Table of Contents

The publishers of this interesting volume do not conceive that it requires an elaborate introduction to the reading public. Some brief remarks, however, may not be inappropriate as a preface to THE MAGICIAN'S OWN BOOK, since the black art, as in lessen lightened ages the practice of all these innocent and interesting feats was termed, is not yet as popularly understood in this country as it is abroad. There is a charm in legerdemain, or sleight of hand, that all, whether young or old, can readily appreciate. There is a mystery in it that piques the understanding as well as provokes the curiosity of the spectator. If the trick be executed with address, it excites our admiration; and the simpler it appears, the more it engages our fancy and fascinates our attention. And it is not only when we are mystified in public, cajoled in great saloons, and in the presence of crowds, that these effects are developed. They are called forth by the performances even of some humble artist in the family circle, whose ingenuity of mind has enabled him to gather up the more available of these practical puzzles. It would seem, therefore, a useful thing to place this source of harmless amusement within the reach of all who can relish its eccentricities, and instead of leaving it in the hands of professors, as a pecuniary speculation, to enable the domestic group to master and enjoy it in all its ever-varying phases of novelty and gratification. To do this is what the publishers propose in the issue of this volume; and they flatter themselves, that if carefully studied, it will prepare the Young Conjuror to convert the parlor, at any desirable moment, into a place of genuine entertainment for himself and his companions, and ample repay him for the little time and thought he may devote to the acquisition of the necessary skill and dexterity.

Sleight of hand, magic, necromancy, &c., are all terms of art applicable to the same series of performances. The parlor student, therefore, once familiar with the general principles upon which these experiments are effected, will find little difficulty in comprehending at a glance, notwithstanding all the show of gorgeous paraphernalia and auxiliary machinery employed, the modus operandi of every one of them he may witness in public. This will be a new source of pleasure to him, independent of his ability to turn Conjuror on his own account at home. Nor can we well conceive of any rational objection likely to be urged against a kind of knowledge, so unimpeachable in its nature, and so mirth provoking in its results. Acting Charades are common, even among the most fastidious families. Enigmas and puzzles, in pantomime and speech, afford innoxious amusement to thousands. The publishers only consider THE MAGICIAN'S OWN BOOK a new addition to the current list of entertainments of that character; for what is a sleight of hand feat but an enigma placed before the spectator for solution? What is a trick in natural magic but a puzzle repeated to those who behold it, each one of whom is tacitly expected to guess how it is accomplished, while the little practitioner only holds the key to the mystery? In truth, the parlor needs some increase in its means of social amusement. The number it embraces is extremely limited. They soon weary. This weariness creates an appetite for outside attractions, not always wholesome, and too often insidiously pernicious. THE MAGICIAN'S OWN BOOK nicely fills up, therefore, the void in the category of parlor recreations. It may be made to present an ever-changing, always tempting, stay-at-home inducement, and in this shape becomes a moral assistant of no unimportant description, as well as the piquant source of good humored bamboozlement.

In conclusion we would say, that the THE MAGICIAN'S OWN BOOK contains a great variety of curious tricks and deceptions, many of which have never before appeared in print, and for many of which the publishers beg to acknowledge their indebtedness to Mr. John Wyman, Junior, the celebrated magician, that gentleman having kindly furnished clear and simple explanations to many of his most surprising parlor feats and fancies.

---

INDEX.

Table of Contents

---

THE YOUNG CONJUROR.

Table of Contents

INCLUDING SLEIGHT OF HAND, WITH OBJECTS OR CARDS, WITH AND WITHOUT APPARATUS.

That there has been Jugglery in all ages of the world, the pages of history abundantly prove. The ancient religions of the heathen were mixed up with an extensive system of legerdemain, and were, more or less, tissues of trickery. Sleight of hand, tricks of the tongue by which the word was kept to the ear, but broken to the hope, and various miraculous deceptions, were the means by which the priests of Egypt, Greece, and Rome used to subjugate mankind. Happy ought we to be, in living in an age when humbug of every kind is sure to meet exposure by the daylight beams of truth.

The Eastern nations, from the earliest times, possessed, besides these religious jugglers, others who made a livelihood by going from place to place, and performing various tricks and feats by which the judgement was bewildered and the reason bamboozled; and even now the performers of the East infinitely exceed those of the West. In the Norman times the juggler was termed jongleur, or joculator, and united in one the minstrel, astrologer, and merry-andrew. In the fourteenth century, he seems to have become more entirely a performer of tricks and feats, and bore the name of Tregetour. The tregetours were adepts at every kind of sleight of hand, and by the assistance of machinery of various kinds, deceived the eyes of the spectators, and produced such illusions as were usually supposed to be the effect of enchantment, for which reason they were frequently ranked with sorcerers, magicians, and witches. Chaucer, who no doubt had frequently an opportunity of seeing the tricks exhibited by the tregetours of his time, says, There I sawe playenge jogelours, magyciens, trageteours, phetonysses, charmeresses, old witches, and sorceresses; and the old poet goes on to say to them, Sometimes they will bring on the similitude of a grim lion, or make flowers spring up as in a meadow; sometimes they cause a vine to flourish, bearing white and red grapes, or show a castle built with stone, and when they please, they cause the whole to disappear: and in another part of his work, he says:

"There saw I Coll Tregetour,

Upon a table of sycamour,

Play an uncouthe thynge to tell;

I sawe hym cary a wyndemell,

Under a walnot shale."—House of Fame, book iii.

The learned monarch, James I, was perfectly convinced that these and other inferior feats exhibited by the tregetours of his day, could only be performed by the agency of the old gentleman, whom it is not polite to name. The profession had already fallen very low, and at the close of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the performers were ranked by the moral writers of that time, not only with ruffians, blasphemers, thieves, and vagabonds, but also with Jews, Turks, heretics, pagans, and sorcerers; and in more modern times, by way of derision, the juggler was called a mocus-pocus, or hocus-pocus, a term applicable to a pick-pocket, or a common cheat.

The following pages are not intended to make the young reader either a cheat or a trickster; there is nothing, perhaps, so utterly contemptible in every-day life, as trickery and deception, and we would caution our young master not to obtain by these amusements a love of deception, which is only allowable in such feats of amusement, and which is in no way culpable, when every one knows he is deceived. But we would advise him strongly to cultivate in his own mind the virtues of sincerity, straightforwardness, candor, openness, and truth; to shun subterfuge and deception as he would a venomous reptile; and to hate a lie as he would hate that same old gentleman whom we were too polite to name, and who is the father of it.

With this sage advice, we shall present a collection of amusing conjuring tricks.

SLEIGHT OF HAND.

Table of Contents

It is my intention, in the following pages, to lay more stress upon those tricks which require no apparatus, than upon those for which special apparatus, or the assistance of a confederate, is required. No one is nearly so well pleased by a trick whose essence evidently lies in the machinery, while every one feels pleasure at seeing a sleight of hand trick neatly executed. For my own part, I despise all the numerous boxes, bottles, variegated covers, and other gimcracks which are generally seen on a conjuror's table; and I have never been so pleased with any performer as with one who did not even require a table, but pressed into his service articles borrowed from his audience, as he stood before them, or walked among them. The spectators should never be able to say, Ah! the trick lies in the box; he dares not show it to us!

The following tricks have almost all been successfully performed by myself, and have caused me some reputation in the magic art. Some are my own invention:

1. THE FLYING DIME.

This trick must be frequently practiced before it is produced in public.

Borrow two colored silk handkerchiefs from the company, and have three dimes in your hand, but only show two, keeping the other one firmly fixed against the first joint of the second and third fingers. You must also have a fine needle and thread stuck inside the cuff of your coat. Then take one of the handkerchiefs, and put in both dimes, but pretend that only one is in the handkerchief; then put the handkerchief into a hat, leaving one corner hanging out. Now hold up the third dime (which the spectators imagine is the second), and ask one of the company to lay the second handkerchief over it. You then ask him to hold the dime tight between his finger and thumb, while you twist up the handkerchief. While doing so, with both hands concealed under the handkerchief, you pass a few stitches under the dime, and replace the needle. This being done, spread one corner of the handkerchief over the hand of the person who is still holding the dime, and, taking hold of another corner, tell him to drop the dime when you have counted three. At the word three, he lets go the dime, and you whisk the handkerchief into the air, when the dime appears to have vanished, but is really held in the handkerchief. You then tell the astonished individual to draw the other handkerchief out of the hat by the corner that is hanging out. The two dimes are heard to fall into the hat, and every one is persuaded that you have conjured one of the dimes out of a person's hand, and sent it into the hat.

2. ANOTHER METHOD.

Perhaps the spectators may ask to see it again, or demand to mark the dime. In this case, vary it as follows. Ask some one (always choose the most incredulous of the party) to mark a dime of his own, and give it you. Take the same handkerchief, and give him the dime to hold that is already enclosed in it, as in the last trick, dropping the marked dime into the palm of your hand. Twist it up as before, and then leave it entirely in his hands. Direct him to place it on a table, and cover it with a basin or saucer. Ask him to give you a cup or tumbler, and hold it under the table, beneath the place where the saucer is. Then tell him to knock three times on the saucer, and at the third knock let the marked dime fall into the tumbler. Hand him the tumbler, and while he is examining the dime to see if it is the same one that he marked, take up the saucer, and shake out the handkerchief that is lying under it, as in the last trick. You must then return the handkerchief, and while you pretend to be searching for the marks, draw out the thread that held the dime, and drop the coin into the palm of your hand, taking care to rub between your finger and thumb the spot where the threads had been, in order to eradicate the marks. This variation seldom fails to confuse the company.

You must remember to keep talking the whole time, and always try to make a joke, or otherwise to distract the attention of the audience, while you are executing the necessary changes.

3. THE BEADS AND STRINGS.

Ask some lady to lend you the beads off her bracelet, or have by you five or six beads, which you may hand round for examination. Then get some one to cut two pieces of thin string of equal length, and twist them about your fingers, appearing to lay them side by side, but in reality placing them as in the figure, and then, by twisting them together with apparent carelessness, the manner in which they are arranged will not be seen, particularly if you keep the point of junction hidden either by a finger, or by throwing the shade of your hand upon it.

When the beads are returned, thread them all, taking care to pass the center bead over the point of juncture. You then bring the ends of the string 1 and 2 together, and tie them so, doing the same with 3 and 4. Now give the tied ends to two persons, directing them to hold them tight. You need not fear that the beads will come off, even if they pull hard. Then grasp the beads with both hands, directing the holders to slacken the strings. You then, under cover of the left hand, which is placed above the beads, slip the center bead to one side, and draw out the two loops which have been hidden in it. The beads will then easily come off into your right hand. Tell the holders to pull hard, which they will do, and the same moment remove your hands, showing the empty strings, and all the beads in your right hand. Then hand round the beads and strings as before. Remember to rub out the marks in the strings caused by the loops, before you remove your hands.

4. TO GET A RING OUT OF A HANDKERCHIEF.

Bend a piece of gold wire into the form of a ring, having previously sharpened both ends. You have a real ring made of the same piece of wire, and concealing the false ring in the palm of your hand, offer the real one to be inspected. When it is returned, borrow a handkerchief, and while taking it from the lender, slip the real ring into your left hand, and take the false one at its point of junction. Throw the handkerchief over the ring, and give it to some one to hold between his finger and