For Magician’s Only by Robert Parrish

Details: Here’s the book for every one who ever dreamed of pulling rabbits out of a hat or sawing a woman in two (and putting her back together again). The author, who has had a long experience in platform magic and two previous books on the subject, has succeeded in making prestidigitation simple and interesting, and his book can even be read by those who never expect to become magicians.

Mr. Parrish not only gives clear and explicit instructions for performing thirty popular “tricks,” but he also explains the psychology of letting an audience see only what you want them to see. Distracting the audience is more important than the mere mechanics of performance.

The book has been written with a view to giving the amateur magician a complete repertory. When all of the “tricks” explained in the book arc mastered, the aspiring magician will have enough material for four or five complete “magic shows.” With the short cuts and simplifications that the author has developed, the book will also be found very useful by professionals who perform in night clubs, at luncheons, and in other places where space and illusion are limited and simple magic is in order.
Although the book is written in a sophisticated manner, it will be clear to young magicians, as well as to adult readers. It is illustrated with many diagrams and amusing chapter headings by Doris Holley Peters.

Contents: (From Book ToC & Lybrary.com listing; Only Chapter page numbers are accurate)

9 Chapter One Warning: The Fun Of Magic

15 Chapter Two The Way It Looks And The Way It Is

21 Chapter Three The Old Ways And The New

25 Chapter Four The First Trick

35 Chapter Five After-Dinner Magic
35 The Knife And The Papers
39 Salt And Whiskey
42 Here And There

45 Chapter Six Card Magic With The Greatest Of Ease
45 How To Keep A Card From Getting Lost In A Deck
47 Letting A Spectator Shuffle The Deck (In Vain)
49 A Trick Using This Method
51 How To Use Card Systems
53 How To Be Marvelous Without Skill
55 Card Into Pocket And No Sleights
57 The Stabbing Trick
59 Two Card Turnabout
61 Hop, Skip, And Jump
65 A Card Trick With Needle And Thread

68 Chapter Seven How To Be Psychic
68 The Bangalor Billet
71 Predicting Things To Come
74 Slate Psychics
77 An Impromptu Method
79 How To Make Your Best Friend A Medium

81 Chapter Eight Manipulating Many Things
81 A Paper Napkin And The Tables Turned
83 How To Make A Coin Vanish
85 How To Produce A Coin
89 Visible Magic
92 Thimble Trickery
95 The Trouble With Thimbles

98 Chapter Nine Larger Tricks
98 The Magician’s Waste Basket
100 The Flight Of Water
102 A Deceptive Lemon
105 Enough Rope
109 The Hindu Rope Trick

113 Chapter Ten A Magic Show
113 An Impromptu Program
117 A Short Magic Show
119 Another Magic Show
121 Conclusion

• Publisher: Bernard Ackerman Inc.
• Pages: 121
• Location: New York, USA
• Dimensions: 6″x8″
• Date: 1944
• Binding: hardbound

Text Source: Linking Ring – July 1944
Contents: magicref.net – click for details

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