Enchantments by Wesley James

Details: With Wesley James’s Enchantments you will find yourself confronting one of the largest volumes of original card magic ever conceived by one man–500 pages of shrewd and sophisticated material by a modern creator and performer who has repeatedly shown his ability to make important and lasting contributions to the field.

Wesley James has been a palpable presence for many years on the cutting edge of New York City’s card scene and magic underground. During more than fifty years in magic, twenty-five as a full-time professional, he performed nearly every variety of magic from close-up to illusions, from kid shows to corporate parties, and everything between. For many years he refused to lecture for magicians, reserving his original material to enable him to earn his living. Now retired, he shares his professional secrets freely.

Enchantments is an important testament to Mr. James’s devotion, cunning and expertise in a world in which he rubbed shoulders and traded thoughts with the twentieth century’s finest cardmen, from Vernon to Marlo, from Krenzel to Dingle. These personal involvements, amplified by a thorough study of the literature of card magic, have produced a body of work rare in the quality of its thought and innovation.

Enchantments collects and presents in illuminating detail the fruits of Wesley James’s intense involvement with the invention and perfection of card magic from the 1960’s right up to yesterday. Within the covers of this volume you will find fresh plots playing neighbor to new presentations and combinations of past classics and overlooked gems. You will find effects with Aces and packets, presentations of visual magic and mental magic; and you will find a wealth of new sleights and tools, with far-reaching possibilities for application, including in-depth studies of false shuffles and deals, multiple lifts, passes and palming.

Enchantments is a milestone from one of card magic’s most innovative and persistent thinkers. Its contents benefit from a rare combination of technical knowledge and performing experience. To read this book is to share with Mr. James in a breadth of thought, a depth of understanding and an enchantment in the presentation of quality card magic!

Illustrated by Tony Dunn. Pre-Illustrative Photography by Debbie Murray.

Contents (from book ToC):
xi Preface
xiii Introduction

5 Part One – Forgery, Packets & Principles

5 Section One: Forgery
5 Forgery

5 Section Two: Ace Effects
19 Trapped Ace Surprise
23 Catch-Ace-Trap-ee
28 April Fools Aces
31 – Ace And Three-Card Vanishes
34 – Ace And Four-Card Vanishes
38 Catalytic Progressive Aces

49 Section Three: Packet Effects
49 Below Zero Minus One
51 – The Spread Displacement
54 – The Marlo Flexible Count Grip
55 – The JEHHFOWJ Count
57 – Semaj-Novrec Masked Packet Reverse
58 – Snap Reverse
61 Turn Me Down Why Don’t You
67 The James Gang
69 – The Marlo-James Multiple Shift
77 Quick Three-Way My Way
82 – Small Packet One-Handed Top Spot Palm
84 New Faces Of 1234
85 – Spread ATFUS
89 Hyper-Warp

89 Section Four: Two Principles
101 The Sigma Principle
104 A Sleight Case Of Murder
113 Vanishing Eleven And Placement

121 Part Two

121 Section One: Palming
121 Palming…
125 Named Travelers
127 – Secretly Disordering The Deck
129 – WJ Bottom Palm
133 Holdout Holdup
139 – The Coughlin Palm Replacement
141 – The One-Handed Daley Switch
144 Chameleon Colors Revisited
146 – De-Flourished Ossip Slip Cut

153 Section Two: Lifts
153 Naturalness: The Double Lift—And More
158 WJ Two-Step Double Lift
161 The WJ Two-Step Double Lift Hit Variation
164 A Stuart Gordon Turnover Variation
167 The Unload Subtlety
170 My Ambitious Card Routine
173 – The Moveable Card Pass
177 – Coming Up In The World (A.K.A. The Load-Up Move)
181 – The WJ Side Steal
188 – The Simulated Shuffle—A Palm Cover
188 – The James Palm Transfer
188 – The Speed Load—A Wallet Loading Technique

193 Section Three: False Deals
193 Deals
195 Bottom Dealing
208 Follow That Card II
219 P.K.A. Cheating
223 Fair Risk – Spectator’S Open Prediction
228 Second Dealing
237 The Moon Is Made Of Blue Cheese
240 Sympathetic Blacks
244 – Marlo’s Future Reverse—Broken Form
245 – The Krenzel Square Reverse
249 Etude For Dealers
254 The Option Second Deal
257 – The Countervailing Motion Principle
259 Miscellaneous False Deals
263 A Hand Too Few
271 Theory Thirds
273 – Fourths Fifths Etc.
274 – The Undifferentiated Middle
276 – Adding Differentiation
277 Miscellaneous False Deals (Concluded)
281 Theoretical False Deals
281 Summary

285 Section Four: Shuffles
285 False Riffle Shuffles
288 The Zarrow Shuffle
290 – WJ On The Zarrow
294 – The Tabled Winnipeg Cut
297 I’ll Put Money On It
309 Color Triumphant
315 The Merlin Push-Through
322 The Strike Push-Through
327 The Crand-bler’s Prediction

327 Section Five: The Pass
335 The Pass
337 The Basic Position
340 The Edge Pass
343 The Squeeze Pass
345 The Pivot Side-Jiggle Pass
347 The Diagonal Pass
349 The Automatic Pass
351 The Anomalous Pass

357 Section Six: Toolbox
357 Low Lateral Palm
358 – The Position
359 – The Deal-Out Subtraction
361 – Low Lateral Control
364 – Low Lateral Conversions
367 – Add-Backs
367 — Standard Add-Back
368 — No Contact Add-Back
369 – Bottom Add-Backs
370 – Low Lateral Steals
373 – Low Lateral Switches
377 The Christ-Annemann Alignment Displacement Sequence
380 Four-As-Four – Hiding Two, Faf-Two – Counts
381 – The Faf-Two Count
382 – Splay Grip
384 West-Townsend-James (WTJ) Count
389 Turnantula
393 The Egress Vanish
398 A Refinement For The Bluff Shift
399 – The Bluff Shift As A Control
402 – The Bluff Shift As A Riffle Force

409 Part Three – Mental Effects & Gaffed Methods

409 Section One: Going Mental
409 Mental Magic
410 The Vibratory Prediction
413 – The Intention Force
415 – The Kick-Off Switch
418 Blushing Leaper
423 Brownian Movement (The Sequel)
425 – The Veeser Concept And Alignment Insurance
428 Ham And Ace Sandwich
434 Divine Miraskill
438 A Vision Or A Dream?

445 Section Two: Seriously Gaffed
445 Why Not?
446 Wishuffle
451 Birthday Aces
461 Watch The Wild Ace

473 Section Three: General Tips
473 The Hands
475 Breaking In The Cards
478 Routining

481 Closing Comment

• Publisher: Hermetic Press
• Pages: 481
• Location: Seattle, USA
• Dimensions: 7″x10″
• Date: 2004
• Binding: hardbound

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