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TRICKS WITH CARDS Professor Hoffman Author of "The Magician's Book of Conjuring," " Sleight of Hand Tricks," etc. * * * * •

PROFUSELY

ILLUSTRATED.

PUBLISHED BY THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK CLEVELAND, U. S. A.

COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY THE

ARTHUR WESTBROOK

COMPANY.

TRICKS WITH CARDS PART I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SLEIGHT-OF-HAND APPLICABLE TO CARD TRICKS.

'Among the various branches of the conjuror's art, none will better repay the labor of the student, whether artist or amateur, than the magic of cards. It has the especial advantage of being, in a great measure, independent of time and place. The materials for half its mysteries are procurable at five minutes' notice in every home circle; and even in the case of those tricks for which specially prepared cards, etc., are requisite, the necessary appliances cost little, and are easily portable—two virtues not too common in magical apparatus. Further, the majority of card tricks are dependent mainly on personal address and dexterity, and, as such, will always be highly esteemed by connoisseurs in the art. Before very large audiences, indeed, the spectators being at a distance from the performer, much of the effect of a card trick is lost; which is probably the reason that, of late years, tricks of this class (with a few exceptions) have been rather neglected by professors; and that many feats which in the times of Conus and Comte were numbered among the sensations of the day, are now almost entirely forgotten. We shall endeavor in the following pages, after explaining the principles of sleight-of-hand applicable to cards, and giving instructions for some of the best of the more commonplace feats, to revive the recollection—and, we hope, the practice—of some of these brilliant performances.

TRICKS WITH CARDS. The Cards.—The adept in sleight-of-hand should accustom himself to the use of every description of cards, as frequently none but the ordinary full-sized playing cards may be available. Where, however, the choice is open to him, he should use in the actual performance of tricks, cards of a smaller and thinner make. The common French cards answer the purpose very well. Among cards of English make, some of the best for the purpose are the small cards of the French pattern made by De La Rue & Co., for use in France, and those known as the " Tankerville " cards, both imported by Peck & Snyder, 124 Nassau Street, New York City, which are thin, well made, and of small size, but of the English pattern. In any case, it is well to use only the piquet pack of thirtytwo cards (the twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes being removed), the complete whist pack being inconveniently bulky for sleight-of-hand purposes.

To MAKE THE PASS. (Sauter la coupe.)—The effect of this sleight, which is the very backbone of card-conjuring, is to reverse the respective positions of the top and bottom halves of the pack, i. e., to make those cards, which at first formed the lower half of the pack, come uppermost, when those cards which at first formed the upper half will, of course, be undermost. It is used by card-sharpers, immediately after the cards Flg*• have been cut, to replace them in the position which they occupied before the cut, and from this circumstance derives its French name. There are various methods of producing this effect, some requiring