Post by Chris Martin on Aug 14, 2005 13:33:53 GMT -5
All books from Dover Publishing tend to be overlooked by big-shot professional magicians in the close-up field today. However, Hugard's Magic Manual written by Jean Hugard back in the 30's is way too good to be overlooked.
The reason I say it's a good book is because there is one thing in all books written by Hugard that many expensive magic books are lacking in today: content. There is a hell of a lot of content in just this one book, and to pick up on all the little details you have to go through it and read the different parts many times. As I sit here looking at the table of contents I can already see how huge it is. The contents are:
-- The Wand
-- Coins
-- Wizardry with Watches
-- Magic with Rings
-- Magic with Balls
-- Eggs
-- Linking Rings
-- Silks and Sorcery
-- Conjuring with Cigarettes
-- Cigar Conjurations
-- Thimble Thaumaturgy
-- Birth of Flowers
-- Ropes and Cords
-- Bills
-- Out of the Hat
-- Mental Magic
-- Playing Cards
I'm getting a headache just trying to count the number of sleights and effects listed below each title in the table of contents -- the contents themselves take 3 whole pages even though the print is cramped and miniscule. There are 45 total just after "The Wand" and "Coins". It's a wonderful book on magic from Dover and I highly recommend it to everybody reading this. Out of 10, I give it a 9.5.
The reason I say it's a good book is because there is one thing in all books written by Hugard that many expensive magic books are lacking in today: content. There is a hell of a lot of content in just this one book, and to pick up on all the little details you have to go through it and read the different parts many times. As I sit here looking at the table of contents I can already see how huge it is. The contents are:
-- The Wand
-- Coins
-- Wizardry with Watches
-- Magic with Rings
-- Magic with Balls
-- Eggs
-- Linking Rings
-- Silks and Sorcery
-- Conjuring with Cigarettes
-- Cigar Conjurations
-- Thimble Thaumaturgy
-- Birth of Flowers
-- Ropes and Cords
-- Bills
-- Out of the Hat
-- Mental Magic
-- Playing Cards
I'm getting a headache just trying to count the number of sleights and effects listed below each title in the table of contents -- the contents themselves take 3 whole pages even though the print is cramped and miniscule. There are 45 total just after "The Wand" and "Coins". It's a wonderful book on magic from Dover and I highly recommend it to everybody reading this. Out of 10, I give it a 9.5.