Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

Sixth Method. (With either hand.)--Take the pack in either hand, as if you were about to stand it on end on the table, the backs of the cards being next to the palm. Insert the third finger between the two halves of the pack, and draw the second and fourth fingers behind the pack. In this position, the uppermost half of the pack is held between the third finger and the second and fourth fingers. Clip the lower or front half of the pack at its two top corners between the thumb and the first finger. (See Fig. 9.) Now extend the second, third, and fourth fingers, which will carry with them the upper half of the pack. As soon as it is clear of the lower half, again close the fingers, thereby bringing the upper packet to the bottom. (See Fig. 10.) This mode of making the pass may be employed as you place the pack on the table, the movement for that purpose serving to cover that by which the cards are transposed. If no table is at hand a quick movement of the hand and arm from right to left, at the moment when the pass is made, will be found to answer equally well. Seventh Method. (With the right hand.)--This is a mere makeshift for the pass proper, though its effect is the same. It is performed in picking up the cards from the table after they have been cut, and left, as is usual, in two heaps. The performer picks up, as in the ordinary course, the bottom half of the pack (which should properly be placed uppermost after the cut); but, instead of picking them up in the usual way, he picks them up with the second, third, and fourth fingers under, and the first finger above the cards. In placing them apparently upon the upper heap, he tilts up the right hand edge of that heap with the tip of the first finger, and with the remaining fingers slides the heap he already holds underneath it (see Fig. 11), so that the cards are again precisely as they were before the cut. This sham mode of making the pass is rarely used by conjurors, but is said to be frequently employed by card-sharpers.