Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

When two cards shaped as above are placed one upon another, but in opposite directions, the effect is as in Fig. 34. If the whole pack is at the outset placed with all the cards alike (i.e., their ends tapering in the same direction), by reversing any card and returning it to the pack, its wide end is made to correspond with the narrow ends of the remaining cards, thereby making it for the time being a “long” card. By offering the pack for a person to draw a card, and turning the pack round before the card is replaced, the position of that card will thus be reversed, and you will be able to find it again in an instant, however thoroughly the cards may be shuffled. By pre-arranging the pack beforehand, with the narrow ends of all the red cards in one direction, and those of the black cards in the other direction, you may, by grasping the pack between the finger and thumb at each end (see Fig. 35), and, drawing the hands apart, separate the black cards from the red at a single stroke, or, by preparing the pack accordingly, you may divide the court cards from the plain cards in like manner. Many other recreations may be performed with a pack of this kind, which will be noticed in due course. The long card and the biseauté pack have each their special advantages and disadvantages.