Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

It only remains to explain the mode by which the nest of boxes, with the handkerchief therein, is placed upon the servante. Some performers employ the rather too transparent expedient of making the assistant bring in, then and there, a small round table, behind which, on a servante of its own, is placed the closed nest of boxes. A better plan, where the size of the nest permits, is to have it placed open, before the performance commences, on the servante of the centre table. It is then an easy matter for the performer or his assistant (as the case may be) to slip in the folded handkerchief, and close the boxes, the remainder of the trick proceeding as already described. Some performers use for the purpose of this trick a special mechanical table, which, by means of a lifting apparatus, itself introduces the nest of boxes through a trap into the bottomless box, without the necessity of tilting the latter.