Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

It is obvious that the two packets now collectively contain duplicates of three cards, while three others are missing; but it is extremely unlikely that any one will suspect this, or seek to verify the constitution of the pack. TO ALLOW SEVERAL PERSONS EACH TO DRAW A CARD, AND THE PACK HAVING BEEN SHUFFLED, TO MAKE ANOTHER CARD DRAWN HAPHAZARD CHANGE SUCCESSIVELY INTO EACH OF THOSE FIRST CHOSEN.--Invite a person to draw a card. This first card need not be forced, as it is not essential for you to know what card it is, so long as you afterward keep it in sight. When the card is returned to the pack, insert the little finger under it, and make the pass in order to bring it to the bottom. Make the first of the false shuffles (see page 23), and leave it at the bottom. Again make the pass to bring it to the middle of the pack, and force the same card on a second and again on a third person, each time making a false shuffle, and leaving the chosen card, which we will call a, ultimately in the hands of the last person who drew.[E] When you have concluded the last shuffle, which (the card not now being in the pack) may be a genuine one, you offer the pack to some person who has not yet drawn, and allow him to draw any card he pleases, which second card we will call b. You open the pack, and ask the persons holding the two cards to replace them one on the other; that first chosen, a, being placed last--i.e., uppermost.