Card Tricks

Learn Card Magic — Without Difficult Sleight of Hand

Want to learn impressive card tricks but don’t want to spend months mastering complicated sleights?

Card Tricks Without Sleight of Hand or Apparatus by L. Widdop was written for exactly that purpose. Rather than beginning with difficult techniques such as palming, forcing and complicated card manipulation, this classic magic book teaches entertaining card tricks that can be performed with an ordinary pack of playing cards. No special trick deck and no expensive magical apparatus are required.

Inside you’ll discover more than 20 classic card tricks and routines, including apparent thought-reading, divination, telepathy, disappearing cards, impossible discoveries and mathematical card mysteries. Highlights include The Four Burglars, An Exhibition of Thought-Reading, The Disappearing Ace, Hypnotic Selection, The Clock Trick, The Spelling Trick and Make a Chosen Card Appear at Any Number.

But this is more than a collection of secrets. Widdop explains how to present card magic effectively, including the importance of patter, misdirection, audience management and building a trick towards a strong climax. The tricks are even arranged as a practical programme, helping the reader turn individual effects into an entertaining performance.

Originally published by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. in 1914, the book belongs to Pearson’s celebrated “Amusements for the Home” series — the inexpensive, strikingly illustrated magic books that became known as the “Yellow Perils” and are now highly collectable pieces of conjuring history.

This Hey Presto Publishing edition brings the classic work back for a new generation of magicians. It is an unabridged and expanded pocketbook republication, featuring remastered original illustrations and amendments to the text for clarity while preserving the historic work.

Whether you are learning your first card trick, looking for easy card tricks for beginners, or exploring the history and literature of magic, Card Tricks is a practical and fascinating introduction to performing astonishing magic with the deck you already own.

No difficult sleight of hand. No special trick cards. No expensive apparatus. Just a deck of cards — and some wonderfully clever secrets.