Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

Second Method.--Proceed as above, but instead of opening the pack to get sight of the card, bring it secretly to the bottom by the pass, and offer the cards to be shuffled, holding them at the upper end between the thumb and first and second finger of the right hand, and slanting from you at an angle of 45°, as in Fig. 15. As the faces are towards you, you have a full view of the card. Even if it should suggest itself to the audience that you are able to see the bottom card, as they are not aware that the chosen card is now in that position, there is nothing to excite their suspicion. You may, by way of variety, instead of offering the cards to be shuffled, hold them in the right hand, and make the single-handed “ruffle” above described, at the same time turning their faces slightly towards yourself. You may effect the same object, even more simply, by the mere act of passing the pack from the one hand to the other, keeping the bottom card turned inwards as above. TO “SLIP” A CARD.--Hold the pack in the left hand having first slightly moistened the fingers, which should rest upon the back of the cards. Open the pack bookwise, at an angle of about 45°, holding the upper packet lengthways between the thumb and second finger of the right hand. Draw this upper packet smartly upwards to a distance of two or three inches from the lower packet. (See Fig. 23.) The top card of the upper packet, being held back by the pressure of the fingers upon it, will not move upwards with the rest of the packet; but immediately the remaining cards are clear, will fold itself down on the top of the lower packet. If the top card of the lower packet be examined before and after the slip, the card will appear to have changed, the fact being that the original top card becomes the second after the slip, the slipped card covering it.