Blackstone, Harry: Blackstone's Tricks Anyone Can Do
©1948 Permabooks
©1983 Walter Gibson Published by Citadel Press
Softcover, perfect-bound, 232 pages

Also reprinted as 200 Magic Tricks Anyone Can do by the Great Blackstone, by Random House Publishing, 1995
1983 Reprint

Comments: [Stewart Tame] Very basic, beginner's level stuff. But I've seen some magicians get very good reactions with basic, beginner's level stuff done well. Gibson undoubtedly wrote the actual text of the book, but Blackstone (Senior, by the way) had enough pull to get his name listed as sole author. Most of the titles seem descriptive enough, so I've only commented on a few effects.

Contents:

i Blackstone, Master of Magic, by Walter Gibson : 4 pg bio of Blackstone & short history of book's publication
v Harry Blackstone, America's Premier Prestidigitator: 4 pg bio of Harry Blackstone Jr.
ix Preface

1 Chapter 1: Bafflers : Stunts, which differ from magic in that the secret is revealed in the course of demonstrating them.
2 The Mighty Match
2 Knock It Away
2 Take It Away
3 The Coin Guess
3 The Bill and the Bottles
4 It Won't Burn
4 The Impossible Drink
5 Pepper and Salt
5 Coins On Edge
6 Dime Under Glass
6 Drop the Match
6 Poker Puzzler
7 Drink the Water
7 Take It Off
8 Jump Over It
8 Button It Up
8 Turn-Over Card
9 Match-Box Toss
9 The Lighter End
10 Twelve Thousand And What?
10 The Balanced Coin
11 The Dropping Coin
11 Seeing Things
12 Your Choice
12 Full and Empty
13 The Balanced Die
13 Three Coin Shift
14 Odd Is Even
14 Coins and Glass
15 A Smoke Trick
15 Drop The Cards
16 Knotting a Cigarette
16 The Jumping Flame

17 Chapter 2: Table Tricks
18 Floating Sugar: Sugar cube floats on coffee, then slowly sinks in
18 The Strong Straw: Coffee cup handle over drinking straw, supports it without bending.
19 Find the Matches: 1 of 3 matchboxes rattles, but which 1?
21 Five Coin Twister: Do As I Do routine that's harder than it looks.
22 Rolling the Bills: A $5 bill penetrates a $1.
23 Magnetized Knife: Table knife floats behind magician's interlaced fingers.
24 Blackstone's Paper Ball Trick: Sponge ball routine with small wads of paper.
27 Topsy Turvy Match Pack: Magician can make empty pack of matches turn somersault; the spectator can't.
28 The Balanced Napkin: Paper napkin balanced on corner.
28 X-Ray Sight: Magician identifies which hand holds coin.

30 Chapter 3: Card Sleights
31 False Shuffles
31 Dovetail False Shuffles
32 Complete Pack Control (With the Dovetail)
33 Overhand False Shuffle (To Control Bottom Cards)
35 Overhand False Shuffle (To Control Top Cards)
35 Top and Bottom Shuffle
36 Overhand Shuffle With Complete Pack
36 False Cuts
37 A Simple False Cut (With Three Heaps)
38 Another False Cut (With Four Heaps)
38 Special False Cut (With Five Heaps)
39 Shuffle Cut
40 False Cut Shift
41 The Revolving Pass
43 The Palm
44 The Glide
46 The False Count


47 Chapter 4: Card Locations
48 The Divided Pack: Cards chosen from each half of deck and inserted into other are then found
51 The New Pack: Locating chosen cards in a new deck, fresh from box
52 Easy Locations: Simple key card locations
54 The Master Card Location
55 The Slide Out
57 The Push Through
59 The Push Back
60 A Neat Location
60 The Fan Location
61 A Card Detection
63 The Pick-Up Heaps
63 Surpasso: Location involving the card case
65 An Easy Force
66 The Joker Force
68 The Force Location
69 Behind the Back
71 The Glimpse


74 Chapter 5: Card Discoveries
75 The Knock Out
75 Card From The Pocket
76 Any Number
77 A Reversed Card
78 One Reversed Card
79 Three Reversed Cards
81 Out of the Hat
81 Blackstone's Cut Trick
84 Card In Cigar Box
85 Card Elimination
86 The Magnetic Card


88 Chapter 6: Cigarette Magic
88 The Balanced Cigarette: Cig balances on another, end to end.
90 Cigarette and Bottle: Cig rises and falls within bottle
91 Mutual Attraction: Cig magnetically attracted to another.
91 The Pliable Cigarette: Borrowed cig bends double without breaking
92 Magnetized Cigarettes: Cigs stick to magician's palm
94 Fireproof Necktie: Cig stubbed out on spectator's necktie
95 The Hypnotic Cigarette Pack: Cig pack looks overbalanced but doesn't fall
96 Three On A Match: Repeating lit matches
96 The Surprising Cigarette: Lit end exchanges places with unlit end

98 Chapter 7: Easy Card Tricks
98 Card Found In Hat
99 Two Number Trick: Counting to selected card
100 Bottom to Top: Another Counting to Selected Card
101 Thought Discovered: Chosen card in Magician's pocket
102 Twenty-Five Cards: Five Spectators' cards revealed at once
103 Double Prediction
105 Vanished Card: Thought of Card vanishes from pack
107 The Reversing Cards: Half of deck turns face up
107 The Mystic Discovery: Very ingenious riffle force
110 The Same Number: Count to selected card
111 Mathematical Discovery
112 Three Heaps
113 Many Heaps: This and the previous are self-working


116 Chapter 8: Divination Tricks
117 Dollar Divination: Bill with chosen serial number selected from hat
117 Find The Pencil: Requires confederate
118 The Favorite Brand: Chosen cig drawn from hat
119 Move the Cigarette: Performer tells how many cigs moved
120 With Sugar Lumps: Which sugar cube chosen
121 Pick The Pack: Paper matches
122 Colored Crayons
122 Name the Flavor
123 Ribbons and Pins
124 Divining the Colors
124 Cards and Envelopes
125 Six Bottle Choice


127 Chapter 9: Spelling Tricks: Spell out words to chosen card
128 Simplicity Speller
129 Spread-Out Speller
131 Four Heap Speller
133 The Mental Speller
135 The Progressive Speller
137 A Spelling Trick
138 Automatic Spelling
139 Twelve Card Speller
140 Yankee Doodle
141 The Repeat Speller


145 Chapter 10: Strings and Ropes
145 Automatic Knots
147 The Double Loop: Double loop of string penetrates spectator's finger
147 Snap A Knot: Knot appears when rope is snapped
148 Loop to Loop: Ring on one loop of figure eight travels to other loop
149 On and Off Matchbox: Sliding matchbox cover penetrates ribbon
149 Loop On: Loop Off: Loop of string penetrates spectator's finger
151 Ball On Rope: Ball appears to balance and roll along stretched rope
151 The Impossible Knot: Knot vanishes from rope under cover of matchbox cover
153 Rope and Vase Mystery
154 The Strung Cards: Cards on Ribbon which is cut and restored
156 The Trapped Transfer: Spectator's finger always trapped, magician's always comes free
158 String the Rings: Rings come off rope under cover of handkerchief


160 Chapter 11: Different Tricks
161 Torn and Restored Paper
162 Pencil From Matchbox
163 Knife Through Handkerchief
165 Through The Coat: variation on previous effect
166 Self Rising Matchbox
167 Whisk-Away Coin: coin vanishes from handkerchief
168 Twice Around: Handkerchief knotted around wand which comes free
169 Off With His Head: Head of burned match visibly flies off
170 Safety Pin Snapper: Linked safety pins separate but remain closed
171 The Adroit Dollar Bill: Folded bill turns upside down
172 The Passing Knots: Knots pass from one set of silks to the other
173 The Amazing Bead Trick: Variation of Needles and Thread
175 Rice and Chopstick: Chopstick inserted in vase of rice lifts vase
175 Color Changing Balloon
176 Balanced Matchboxes: Six or more matchboxes stacked end to end but don't fall
177 The Upright Handkerchief: Handkerchief remains upright, both on table and in hand
178 Vanishing Pencil
178 The Changing Match Pack


181 Chapter 12: Mental Mysteries
182 Choose Your Word: Book test with dictionary
182 The Calendar Mystery
184 The Mental Number
186 The Equal Rows
187 Three Heap Mystery
189 Add The Dice
189 Naming the Number
190 Boards and Cards
191 Five Cards and Five Pellets
193 The Mysterious Name
194 Finger Fantasy: Magician tells how many fingers two spectators are holding up, given only the total
197 Total Foretold
197 Spell Your Choice
198 Five Card Mystery

201 Chapter 13: Special Card Tricks
202 The Ten Card Circle
203 Deal The Number
203 A Mystic Prediction
206 A Double Discovery
207 The Card Foretold
209 Passe Passe Cards
212 Cards and Envelopes
215 Pocket to Pocket
216 A Four-Ace Trick
217 The Knife In the Pack
218 The Spectator's Trick
219 Do As I Do
221 Card In the Pocket
224 Four Ace Change
226 Three Card Monte: Center card changes from ace of hearts to ace of spades
227 The Travelling Ace
228 The Hoax With Aces
229 The Improved Ace Hoax
230 Traveling Card Trick