There is quite some confusion about this book, because there are American editions and British editions, some only with card magic, others with additional chapters on cups and balls and other non-card magic effects. The book we have reproduced was printed in London and it does include non-card items. We are reproducing the complete table of contents below.
PRELIMINARY
PART I. – GENERAL TRICKS
- The Landlord and the Merrymakers
- To Show that an Egg contains a
- To Tell beforehand what Cards will be Chosen
- To Restore a Poor Jack’s Lost Leg
- An elegant Card Trick
- To Tell Cards Thought of
- The Unfaithful Knave
- The Blind Abbot and his Monks
- To Throw Thirty-one with a Die before your Antagonist
- To Tell which Hand holds an Odd or Even Number of Cards or Dice
- To Guess the Points of each of Three Dice thrown on a Table and arranged in Order
- The Counter Trick
- How many Counters have I in my Hands?
- The Square of Counters
- To Tell a Number Thought of
- A Numerical Puzzle
- The Marvellous Addition
- Peculiar Properties of the Numbers 37 and 73
- To Divide a Number in Two and have no Remainder
- A Delicate Distribution
- To Divide equally Eight Pints of Wine among Three Jars holding severally Three, Five, and Eight Pints
- The Bottle of the Four Elements
- To Show Live Earth-worms in a Bottle, after only putting in Mould and Water
- To Lift a Bottle, Full or Empty, with a Straw
- The Surprising Bottle
- The Ascent of Aquarius
- The Descent of Aquarius
- The Bottled Egg
- A Liquor Shining in the Dark
- To Convert a Bottle into a Mitrailleuse
- To Pick a Coin out of Water without Wetting your Hand
- To Change One Coin put in a Plate into Two, One of them Larger than the Other
- To Hold a Glassful of Water Upside Down without Spilling
- To Make Water Rise from a Saucer into a Glass
- To Change the Colour of Liquors in various Bottles
- To Make a Colour with Two Colourless Liquids
- The United Enemies To Mix Wax with Water
- Perpetual Motion
- To Make Wine Float on Water
- Mock Lightning
- To Fireproof your Hand
- To Make a Party Look Hideous
- Burning of the North Pole
- A Lamp to Burn although Trundled on the Floor
- The Floating Beacon
- Exploding Pastilles
- Incombustible Substances
- To Blanch and Restore a Rose
- To Copy a Seal
- Magic Writing Letters that will Come and Go at Command
- To Write a Letter Five Miles off
- To Make a Cross in the Hand with one Stroke of the Pen
- The Magic Nosegay A Trick with Sympathetic Fluids
- To Make the Sympathetic Inks
- To Make the Sympathetic Fluid
- The Magic Oracle
- The Tree of Mars, or Metallic Vegetation
- Tree of Diana
- Two Solids become a Liquid by mere Touch
- To have Natural Flowers in Winter
- To Tell if a Person is in Love
- To Make a Figure which will Raise itself without Machinery
- To Imitate the Song of Birds
- Salamander Paper
- To Change Steel into Copper or Brass
- A Distorted Figure seen Well-proportioned from a certain Point of View
- To Restore Burnt Ribbon
- To Divide a Coin without Cutting it
- To Prove that Twice Nothing is of Value
- To have Ice in Summer
- A Practical Joke on a Linendraper
- A Comical Dilemma
- To Break a Stick Laid on Two Glasses full of Water, without Breaking them or Spilling the Water
- To Boil without Fire
- To Balance a Stick on the Finger, without Fear of its Falling
PART II. TRICKS WITH PLAYING-CARDS
- The Amateur’s First Lesson
- To Make the Pass with Both Hands
- To Make the Pass with One Hand; or Single-Handed Pass
- The False Double Shuffle; or, Four Methods of shuffling Cards in such a manner as always to keep one particular Card at the Top or Bottom of the Pack
- To Exchange a Card
- To Slip the Card
- To Put Away a Card
- To Place a Card
- How to Force a Card
- The Long Card
- To Tell Beforehand a Card not then Chosen
- When a Card has been Drawn at Hap-hazard, and Mixed in with the Others by one of the Spectators, to make it Appear on the Top or in the Middle of the Pack, at Pleasure
- A Card Drawn by Chance, after the Pack has been Divided into Four Parts: Discover the Selected One
- To Foresee a Person’s Thoughts; shown by putting into the Pack a Card, chosen beforehand at hazard, in the Place and at the Number that one of the Company may desire a Moment afterwards
- To have a Card Drawn, shuffle it with the others, and after having shown that it is neither at the Top nor the Bottom, make it remain alone in the Left Hand, all the others being dashed down on the Table or Floor by a Right-hand Blow
- To make the Four Aces appear in the Middle of the Pack, although they have been separately put in different Places
- To Prove the Imprudence of Playing at Cribbage with Professional Gamesters
- To Tell a Card Thought of
- To Shift the Card
- To Find, in a Pack put into the Pocket, several Cards which have been freely Selected by the Audience
- Another Method to Name what Card a Person has Drawn from a Pack
- To Find in the Pack, and through a Handkerchief, whatever Card a Person has Drawn
- To Guess the Spots on Cards at the Bottom of Three Lots made by the Drawer himself
- To make a Person believe you can Distinguish the Cards by their Smell
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To make another Person Draw the Cards you call for
TRICKS BY THE AID OF APPARATUS AND PREPARED CARDS
- To Change the King of Hearts into an Ace of Clubs, and vice versa
- The Changing Card
- To make several Parties draw Cards and return them to the Pack, and to find them again
- After Dividing a Pack into Three Parts, to Find a Card which has been Drawn in any Chosen One of the Three
- The Card Thought of, with its Number in the Pack
- The Card in a Ring
- To Show Several Cards drawn from a Pack in a Telescope
- To Discover, Blindfold, by a Sword’s Point, a Selected Card
- To Change a Card in a Person’s Hand, while Recommending Him to Cover it Closely
- Take in your hand an ace of diamonds, on the other side of which, back to back, you hold a three of spades
- To Prepare Powdered Tar for the Foregoing Trick
- To change a Card in Passing it from Hand to Hand
- To Make a Burnt Card Appear in a Watch
- To Pass a Card from Hand to Hand
- To Make a Mouse, or any Similar Thing, come out of a Pack of Cards
PART III. TRICKS OF CONJURING, LEGERDEMAIN, SLEIGHT-OF-HAND, &c., COMMONLY KNOWN AS “WHITE OR INNOCENT MAGIC”
- Elementary Observations
- Tricks with Cups, Balls, Boxes, Coin, Guns, Daggers
- To Conjure the Ball
- To Put a Ball under Each Cup, and Get them Back
- To Pass a Ball into Each of the Cups, and Withdraw it Again
- To Conjure a Ball Through Two or Three Cups
- To Pass the same Ball from Cup to Cup.
- The Cups being covered, to Pass the Ball from one to the other, without raising them
- To make a Ball Pass through the Table and Two Cups
- To take a Ball from one Cup, and make it Pass between two others
- To Pass two Balls, placed under two Cups, into a third
- Two Balls under one Cup, to Pass under the other Two
- To make three Balls Pass under one Cup
- To make Two Balls Pass from one Cup to another without touching either of them
- To make the Three Balls Pass under one Cup from underneath the two others
- Multiplication of Balls
- To make a Ball Pass under each Cup
- To Draw Two Balls out through the same Cup
- To make the same Ball Pass successively through the Three Cups
- To Pass the Balls under Two Cups under the Third, without raising the former
- To make the Three Balls Pass consecutively through each Cup
- The Balls having been replaced in the Conjuror’s Bag, to make them return under the Cups
- To make the Balls Pass through Two Clips
- To draw cut Three Balls through Two Cups
- To Pass Three Balls, at one Stroke, through a Cup
- To Pass Three Balls from one Cup to another
- To make the Balls Change Colour
- To make the Balls Change Sizes
- To make the Balls Pass from one Cup to another
- To pull a little Ball (or Coin) out of the end of a Wand
- To make a Ball Vanish
- To find a Ball under a Cup previously Empty
- To make the Audience think there is nothing under one of the Cups, although there are several Balls really under it
- To make Two Cups Pass into one another
- To make the Balls under a Cup Disappear without Touching them
- To find a large Ball or an Orange under a Cup
- To make believe there is nothing under the Cups, although there is a large Ball under each
- To Metamorphose Large Balls into Sponges, Wigs, Night-caps, &c
- To Change a Florin into a Penny, and vice versa
- To Run a Knife through one’s Arm without Injury
- Magic Boxes
- The Magic Funnel
- Gun Tricks
- The Poulterer and Fowler in one
- How to make a Marksman Miss a Target a yard off, and to Parry a Bullet with a Cane
- To Put Out and to Light Candles with a Pistol-shot
- To Put Out a Lighted Candle at long range with a Gun
- To Revive a Shot Sparrow
- To Pierce a Board with a Candle
- The Magician’s Dagger
- The Dancing Coin
- The Invisible Coin
- The Magic Handkerchief
- To make a Coin Stick to a Wall
- The Knife in the Decanter
- The Dancing Egg
- The Egg Bag
- To Cut, Tear, and Mend a Marked Handkerchief
- The Dice
- The Blindfold Sorcerer
- Blindman’s Buff with Dominoes
- The Domino Oracle
- To See and Count Dominoes through all Obstacles
- To Guess the two Ends of a Line of Dominoes
- To Find Six times Thirteen in Twelve
- Tontine, a very pretty Game at Cards, with which a large Party may be Amused
- To make a Straw Cross Turn, by Pouring on it Two or Three Drops of Water
- Permutation Table
- The Link-boys
- To Draw two Figures with Crayon on a Wall, one of which will Light a Taper, and the other Extinguish it
- Two Dice being thrown on the Table, to find out the Spots on them without seeing them
- Piquet on Horseback
- Mode of Printing a Card on a White Handkerchief
- To Untie a Double Knot without Touching it
- To Knock your Head against a Door without Injury
- The Melting Coin
- The Half-Sovereign in the Wine-Glass
- The Feather Trick
- The Inseparable Columns; or, the Pillars of Hercules
- The Box for Magical Apparitions and Restorations
- The Box of Disappearances
- The Avalanche of Roses
- The Coffer of Transformation
- To Make One of Three Objects Jump out of a Box
- The Magic Snuffbox
- To Read Three Numbers on Blocks Inside a Locked Box
- Jack in a Box
- The Box of Substitution
- The Enchanted Box
- The Feathered Confectioner
- A Musician in a Half-crown
- The Handkerchief-restoring Globe
- Coffee of Haricot Beans
- The Miraculous Post; or, Winged Expresses
- The Magic Drinking-Glass
- In which we show that a Watch is made to be Ground in a Mortar
- Rice, Coffee, and Dried Pease
- Dice which will Pass Anywhere
- The Die Changing into an Orange
- Instantaneous Bloom of Flowers by Means of Electrified Seeds
- The Wonderful Egg-Cup
- To Change a Glassful of Wine into a Shower of Rose- Leaves
- The Cone, or Skittle
- Pile or Cone: A more Amusing Game than Heads or Tails
- The Magic Salver
- Two and Two make Eight; or, The Multiplying Salver
- To Produce Cannon-balls out of a Hat
- A Trick intended for the Service of Wards Oppressed by Cruel Guardians
- Seine-Fishing on a Card-Table
- A Vessel that will let out Water at the Bottom, as soon as the Mouth is Uncorked
- Gold-fish in a Vessel of Ink
- An Omelette in a Hat
- To Cook an Omelette over a Lighted Candle
PART IV THE SECRETS OF GRAND MAGIC
- The Magician’s Table
- The Playing-Card Blossoms; or, the Bouquet of Cards
- The Satyr’s Head
- The Magic Rope-Dancer
- The Miniature Sportsman
- The Marvellous Musket-Shot; or, The Champion of Wimbledon
- The Enchanted Target
- The Automaton Dancer
- The Automaton Smoker, Whistler, and Puffer
- The Magic Pistol
- The Sword-and-Pistol Trick
- To Change the Colour of a Bird’s Plumage, or Petals of a Flower
- A Magic Picture, representing alternately Summer and Winter
- A Colour which Appears and Disappears at Will
- The Magic Likeness
- To Impale a Card on a Sword
- The Ring-Dove
- The Magic Boxes; or, The Twelve Boxes one Inside the other
- The Goblet of Millet-seed
- The Boxes of Millet Seed
- To Make a Ring Change Hands, and Pass on to any Finger you please of the Opposite Hand
- A Pass Trick with a Die and Counters
- A Wonderful Excuse for Awkwardness
- Balls Passing under Coffee-Cups
- Marvellous Production of Oranges and Blossoms; or, The Magic Rosebush
- The Spring-Gun
- To Colour a White Glass Ball after it has Passed into a Bottle, with too Small a Neck to Admit it
- To Pound a Watch in a Mortar and Restore it Intact
- The Egg or Ball Box
- The Obedient Card-Cases
- The Enchanted Card-Tables
- The Magic Rose
- To Produce a Rose in a Clear Glass Vase; or, The Surprising Qualities of Horticultural Crystal
- Pick-me-up Cups
- The Golden-hearted Pippin, and the Gup of Grain
- The Enchanted Billiard Balls
- The Vase of Cream; or, The Fairy Dairy
- The Three Magic Pyramids; or, The Infallible Method of Ensuring the Purity of your Wine
- The Inexhaustible Bottle
- The Favours of Bacchus; or, The Bottle of Wine and Ribbons
- The Magic Stewpan; or, The Wonderful Reviving Birds
- The Wizard’s Cauldron; or, The Animated Dinner
- The Magic Punchbowl
PART V SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENTS
- The Magnetic Opera-glass
- The Miniature Calculating Boy
- The Flower Box
- The Magic Sovereign Box
- The Intelligent Fly
- The Box of Enigmas
- The Magnetic Clock
- Variation, with Numbers or Letters
- The Enchanted Well
- The Enchanted Head
- The Magnetic Card Box
- Cupid’s Palace
- The Magnetic Table for Cupid’s Palace
- The Ringing Bells
- Amusement with the Magnetic Bell
- To make Little Figures which will sometimes Pursue and sometimes Avoid each other
- Tricks with the Magic Lantern
- The Witch of Endor Trick
- Secrets of Hydraulics
- To make Hydraulic Machines with Pleasant Effects
- The Hydraulic Globe
- The Hydraulic Fan or Vase
- The Hydraulic Sun
- A Turning Sun in Water
- Secrets of Electricity
- To Succeed in Electrical Experiments
- The Electrical Fowler
- The Luminous Bouquet
- To Attract a Light Body Floating on Water
- Luminous Rain or Hail
- Electrical Dancers
- The Luminous Fountain
- To Draw Fire from a Person
- To give a Shock to any one Opening a Door
- The Electric Spider
- To Draw Fire from Water in a Glass Jar
- The Electrophoros
- To Charge the Conductor with Electrical Matter, and Discharge it
- The Electric Chimes
- The House Struck by Lightning
- The Ship Struck by Lightning
- The Heavy Casket; or, The Thirteenth Labour of Hercules
- The Crystal Cash-box; or, How to send Money from Town to Town without a Post-office Order
- The Magic Tripod; or, The Flying Coins
- The Fantastic Clock
- The Sympathetic Bell