Thayer Quality Magic Vol. 1 by Glenn Gravatt

Wow – what a treasure trove of magic in these volumes! As I buy more books I realize how much magic is out there, and how few truly new ideas have occurred in the last 10, 20, 30, or more years!

These are a wonderful historical document of 100’s of the marvelous items that came from Thayer. When you read through the effects with their accompanying instruction sheets you recognise so many effects that are still being pushed today as new ideas!

The first time I saw Shakespeare’s Hamlet I remember thinking how many cliches were used, forgetting of course that when the Bard wrote the play the phrases were new. These Thayer volumes are reminiscent of that – so many of these effects were new with Thayer, but today we consider them public domain.

If you have any abilities to construct magic you could be building your own magic for years to come!

Details: “They don’t make ’em like that any more,” is an oft heard expression. This could well apply to the magical apparatus made by Floyd Thayer in the 20’s and 30’s. The Thayer slogan “Quality Magic” was no idle boast. The workmanship was equal if not superior to the best including Roterberg, Conradi, Bartl, and Willmann.

Many years ago by a stroke of good luck, a fortunate combination of circumstances, I acquired a complete file of Thayer instruction sheets designed to accompany the apparatus. this just may be the only complete collection of Thayer secrets in existence.

Recently, I happened to mention this to Lloyd Jones who urged me to compile these instructions in book form, stressing the tremendous value of such a collection to magicians. This I consented to do but found there was too much material for one book. It was therefore decided to issue these secrets in several volumes, of which this is the first.

All of Thayer’s instruction sheets were in mimeographed form. These are reproduced in their original form along with the effect as printed in the Thayer catalog so that the instructions themselves will be better understood.

Some of the instructions may seem a bit sketchy due to the fact that the apparatus furnished needed little explanation. No attempt has been made to alter the instructions as it seemed desirable to preserve the Thayer touch created by Thayer’s own wording.

Contents (from book ToC):

i Introduction (Lloyd E. Jones)
iii Preface (F. Thayer)

1 Tricks With Balls
1 Cone and Billiard Ball
3 Improved Ball and Cone
5 Invisible Ball Transposition
6 Flag Cone and Ball
7 Traveling Billiard Balls
9 Aeroball
10 Handkerchief & Billiard Ball Act
12 Spooky Ookum
14 Color Changing Billiard Balls
16 Novel Billiard Ball Trick
18 Perfecto Ball Stand
19 Ball Cup
20 Interchange of Form
22 Cylinder and Ball

23 Tricks With Cards
23 Find the Lady Cubes
25 Rising Card Tray
26 Card and Balloon
28 Sand Frame
29 Emergency Card Frame
31 Presto Card Frame
32 Incomprehensibility
33 Transfixed Deck
35 Card and Orange
37 Phantazma Coin & Card Tray
39 Simplex Card Locator
41 Flash
42 Transposition Card
44 Rising and Penetric Card
45 Cards and Mysterious Boards
46 William Tell Card Tray
48 Mento Mystery
49 Vanishing Pack

51 Tricks With Dice
51 Die and Box of Flags
53 Die and Mirror Casket
55 Phantom Die Cabinet
57 Changing Die
58 Mystic Box and Lucky Die

61 Escape
61 The Brooks Trunk
64 Triple Escape Illusion
65 Ideal Packing Box Escape
66 Spirit Sack Escape
68 Mail Bag Escape
69 Stocks of Solomon
72 Spirit of Spirits Escape

74 Tricks With Flowers
74 Germain’s Flower Growth
76 Candle to Bouquet
77 Vase of Flowers
78 Flowers from a Paper Bag

81 Illusions
81 The Goddess and the Reptile
86 Temple of Buddha
88 Haunted Window
90 New Electrocution Mystery
93 Canvas Box Illusion
95 Double Box Illusion
96 Confusion in the Ark
101 X-Ray Double Box Illusion
104 Mysterious Materialization
106 Princess of Thebes
108 Flash Appearance
109 Seeing Through a Man
111 Improved Noah’s Ark
113 In Again Out Again
114 Cross Escape
118 Theo The Flying Lady
120 Costume Trunk
122 Glass Lined Trunk
123 King Tut’s Chariot
125 Amac’s Elusive Lady
128 Vampire Illusion
131 Substitution Trunk
134 Stroubeika
135 Lightning Vanish
136 The Girl in the Drum
138 The Artist’s Dream

140 Tricks With Liquids Glasses Bowls
140 New Vanishing Glass of Water
142 Hindoo Water Tube
143 Glass Go
144 Smack It
145 Buckley’s Milk and Watch Trick
147 Turn of the Tide
151 Dribble go
153 Milk-O
155 Penetrating Glass of Water
156 Jumping Spoon
157 Marvelous Fish Bowl Production
158 Mammoth Bowl of Water Production

161 Tricks With Livestock Doves
161 Super Vanish Extraordinary
165 Flight of the Jtodents
167 Multum in Parvo
169 Hong Kong Duck Vanish
171 Sucker’s Pigeon Vanish
173 Cupid’s Doves
175 Bowl of Water Confetti and Doves
177 Tube of Peace
178 Tri-Color Boxes and Mysterious Flight
180 Hats and Rats
181 New Pigeon Vanish
183 Superba Wonder Tray

185 Miscellaneous Tricks
185 No Assistant Nest of Boxes
187 Master Changing Table
188 Aerial Egg
189 Candle and Flag
190 Vanishing Bottle
191 Arnold’s Great Cane Mystery
193 Vanishing Alarm Clock
195 Solid Through Solid
197 Glass Cylinder Stand
197 Mandarin’s Sticks of Fung-Chu
199 Mirror Casket
200 Expanding Egg
202 Here There or Where
204 Poko Chinko
209 Chocolate Box Mystery
211 Nic’s Napkins
216 Paddles and Pips
218 Chest of Chu Chin Chow
220 Vanishing Lamp
221 Orange and Lemon Trick
223 Linking Links
224 Croquet Trick
228 Multiplying Chairs
229 Challenge Box Rod and Ring
232 Baffo
234 Dollar Bill and Lemon

236 Tricks With Money
236 Coin Ladder Table
237 Presto Coin Combination
242 Mystic Coin Vanish
243 Vanishing Half Dollar
244 Latest Obedient Coins
246 Simplex Half Dollar Vanish
247 The Gambler
248 Vanishing Coin Box
250 New Era Coin and Lemon
252 Latest Coin in Ball of Wool

254 Productions
254 Wonder Screen
255 Oriental Tubes of Mystery
256 Phantom Dove Box
258 Production Cabinet
259 Marvo Production Box
261 Drop Model Production Cabinet

254 Tricks With Silks
264 Jolly Roger
266 20th Century Handkerchiefs
268 Superba Color Change
268 Flag Staff
269 Instanto
270 Miniature Silk Vanish
271 The Hanky That Says “TaTas ”
273 Combination Drumhead Tube and Ball
269 Instanto
274 Drumhead Tube
275 Wand and Handkerchief
276 Wizard’s Presto Tube
277 Traveling Silk and Spirit Knots
281 Ultra Handkerchief Wand
282 Triple Tube Vanish
283 Presto Handkerchief Trick

286 Mental Effects
286 Spirit Paintings
297 Dark Trumpet Seance
301 Mystery in Modern Seership
306 Spirit Tom Tom
307 Spirit Answer
309 Mystic Ballot Box
311 Visions of the Dark
313 Multo Parvo Seance
317 Medium’s Reaching Rod
318 Mento Detector
321 New Pedestal Reader

• Publisher: Lee Jacobs Productions
• Pages: 322
• Location: Pomeroy, OH, USA
• Edited by: Theron Fox
• Dimensions: 6″x9″
• Date: 1978, 1981
• Binding: hardbound

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