Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

TO DISTINGUISH THE COURT CARDS BY TOUCH.--This trick is performed by means of a preliminary preparation of the court cards, to be made as follows: Take each court card separately, edge upwards, and draw a tolerably sharp knife, the blade held sloping backwards at an angle of about 45°, once or twice along the edge from left to right. This will be found to turn the edge of the card, so to speak, and to leave on each side a minute ridge, not noticeable by the eye, but immediately perceptible, if sought for, to the touch. Prepare the opposite edge of the card in the same way, and again mix the court cards with the pack, which is now ready for use. Offer the prepared pack to be shuffled. When the pack is returned to you, you may either hold it above your head, and, showing the cards in succession, call “court card” or “plain card,” as the case may be, or you may offer to deal the cards into two heaps, consisting of court cards in one heap and plain cards in the other, every now and then offering the cards to be again shuffled. You can, of course, perform the trick blindfold with equal facility. You should endeavour to conceal, as much as possible, the fact that you distinguish the court cards by the sense of touch, and rather seek to make your audience believe that the trick is performed by means of some mathematical principle, or by any other means remote from the true explanation. This advice, indeed, applies more or less to all tricks. Thus your knowledge of a forced card depends, of course, on sleight-of-hand; but you should by no means let this be suspected, but rather claim credit for some clairvoyant faculty; and vice versâ, when you perform a trick depending on a mathematical combination, endeavour to lead your audience to believe that it is performed by means of some impossible piece of sleight-of-hand. Further, endeavour to vary your modus operandi. If you have just performed a trick depending purely on sleight-of-hand, do not let the next be of the same character, but rather one based on a mathematical principle, or on the use of special apparatus.