Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

CHAPTER VIII. PARLOR MAGIC. The art of magic, as it is now understood, is no longer a secret and mystic profession; it is a written art, and may be easily acquired by the clever mechanician, or any person having dexterous hands and a large amount of self-possession and impudence. I say “impudence,” because most of the best tricks are really so extremely simple that many persons of a timid or self-conscious disposition would feel ashamed to venture to perform them, in case of what they think must be inevitable detection and exposure. But so blind is poor human nature that the clever conjuror can always select his man for “forcing a card upon him,” even though he makes his dupe believe he has selected one at his own will and choice. At the request of a large number of friends, I will conclude this volume by giving a few tricks which may be performed after a very little practice by anybody who will take a little trouble, and for the execution of which no, or very little, apparatus will be required--at any rate, only such as can be obtained either in any ordinary house, or at a very trifling expense. The task which I have set myself is not, as the reader might imagine, an easy one, for in endeavoring to give some tricks which have not before been already fully explained in books published on the subject, I find that there is scarcely a parlor trick which has not already been explained.