Hilliar, William John: Modern Magicians Hand Book
©1902 Frederick J. Drake & Co, Chicago, 1st Edition
Hardbound, 440 pages.

Modern Magicians Hand Book

Comments (lybrary.com): What an excellent book. The quality of the material is outstanding. What makes this book particularly rare is a chapter on juggling and how to fake great juggle skills. I have yet to see another book on magic with such an extensive chapter on juggling. You will also find the obligatory chapter on shadowgraphy, a good write up of black art, and large sections on cards, coins, and tricks with many other props. You will find billiard ball manipulation as well as stage tricks with large apparatus.

Contents:

5 Introduction

8 Chapter I
8 Preliminary Observations
10 The Magic Wand
12 The Magician's Table
16 The Magician's Dress

18 Chapter II
18 General Principles of Sleight-of-hand Applicable to Card Tricks
18 The Cards
18 To Make the Pass (Sauter la Coupe)
25 To Force a Card
27 To Make a "False Shuffle"
29 To "Palm" a Card
30 The Continuous Back and Front Palm with Cards
33 To "Change" a Card (Filer la Carte)
34 The "Color" Change
35 To "Slip" a Card
36 To Spring the Cards from One Hand to the Other
37 To Throw a Card
38 The Bridge

41 Chapter III
41 Card Tricks with Ordinary Cards, and not Requiring Sleight-of-hand
41 Simple Modes of Discovering a Given Card
44 The Four Kings Being Placed Under the Hand of One Person and the Four Sevens Under the Hand of Another, to Make Them Change Places at Will
44 To Name Cards Without Seeing Them
45 New Thought Card Sleights
47 The Lost Ace
48 To Name All the Cards in the Pack in Succession

50 Chapter IV
50 Tricks Involving Sleight-of-hand or the Use of Specially Prepared Cards
50 To Distinguish the Suit of Any Given Card by Weight
50 The "Three-Card" Trick
53 The Penetrating Card
55 The Long Card
57 The Ladies' Looking Glass
59 Torn Corner Card Trick

62 Chapter V
62 Card Tricks Requiring Special Apparatus
63 The Cards Rising Through the Air
65 Changing Card-Boxes, and Tricks Performed With Them
68 Mechanical Changing Cards
72 The Crystal Frame
74 The Cabalistic Star for the Production of Cards

77 Chapter VI
77 Principles of Sleight-of-hand More Especially Applicable to Coin Tricks
80 To Secretly Change a Coin
80 The Continuous Back and Front Coin Palm
80 To Palm a Coin and Yet Show Both Sides of the Hand Empty

83 Chapter VII
83 Coin Tricks Without Apparatus
83 To Pull Four Half-dollars Through a Handkerchief
86 To Extract a Coin from a Folded Paper

87 Chapter VIII
87 Tricks with Coin Requiring Special Apparatus
87 The Rattle-Box. To Make a Coin Vanish from the Box, Though Still Heard to Rattle Within It
88 The Demon Handkerchief (Le Mouchoir du Diable)
90 The Half-dollar Wand
92 The Shower of Money
95 New Coin Catching
96 To Produce Coins from a Lighted Candle

98 Chapter IX
98 Tricks with Watches and Rings
98 A Smashed Watch
102 A New Watch Trick
104 The Coin, Handkerchief, and Ring Trick
106 The Watch Box
108 Verbeck's Wedding Ring Trick
111 The Wandering Ring

114 Chapter X
114 Tricks with Handkerchiefs
115 The Handkerchief That Cannot Be Tied in a Knot
116 To Exchange a Borrowed Handkerchief for a Substitute
118 The Locked and Corded Box
122 The Burning Globe
125 The Dissolving Handkerchiefs
127 Red, White and Blue
129 The Balanced Handkerchief
132 Multiplication of Handkerchief (A silk handkerchief made into two or more)
133 New Handkerchief Sleights
136 New Handkerchief and Egg Trick
137 The Egg and Handkerchief Shot
138 Handkerchief Production with the Aid of a False Finger
139 The Spirit Handkerchief
140 The Handkerchief Which Changes Color

142 Chapter XI
142 The Cups and Balls
144 1. To Palm the Ball
146 2. To Reproduce the Palmed Ball at the End of the Fingers
146 3. To Secretly Introduce the Palmed Ball Under the Cup
148 4. To Simulate the Action of Placing a Ball Under a Cup
149 To Produce a Ball from the Wand
150 To Return a Ball Into the Wand
150 To Pass One Cup Through Another
152 Pass I. Having Placed a Ball Under Each Cup, to Draw it Out Again Without Lifting the Cup
154 Pass II. To Make a Ball Travel Invisibly from Cup to Cup
155 Pass III. Having Placed a Ball Under Each of the End Cups, to Make Them Pass Successively Under the Middle Cup
156 Pass IV. Having Placed Two Balls Under the Middle Cup, to Make Them Pass Under the Two Outer Ones.
157 Pass V. To Pass Three Balls in Succession Under One Cup
157 Pass VI. To Place Three Balls One After the Other Upon the Top of One of the Cups and to Make Them Fall
158 Pass VII. To Pass Three Balls in Succession Upwards Through the Table Into One of the Cups
159 Pass VIII. To Pass Two Balls in Succession From One Cup to Another Without Touching Them
160 Pass IX. To Make Three Balls in Succession Pass Under the Middle Cup
161 Pass X. The "Multiplication" Pass
162 Pass XI. To Transform the Small Balls to Larger Ones
163 Pass XII. To Again Transform the Balls to Still Larger Ones

167 Chapter XII
167 Ball Tricks Requiring Special Apparatus
167 The Ball Box
168 The Red and Black Ball Vases
171 Morison's Pill-Box
173 The Ball Which Changes to a Rose
174 The Obedient Ball
179 The New Billiard Ball Production
183 The Tube and Ball

185 Chapter XIII
185 Tricks with Hats
186 The Cannon-balls in the Hat
192 A Dozen Babies from a Hat
192 The Magic Reticules
194 The Drums from the Hat
195 The Birdcages from the Hat
196 The Cake (or Pudding) in the Hat
197 The Welsh Rabbit
201 The Bundle of Firewood
203 A Flower-Garden from a Hat
205 The Animated Cigar
206 The Wand Passed Through the Hat
209 The Magnetized Hat

211 Chapter XIV
211 Second-Sight Tricks
216 Reading Blindfolded
217 Dr. Lynn's Second-Sight Trick
220 The Thinkophone
222 The Box of Numbers

225 Chapter XV
225 Miscellaneous Tricks
225 The Vanishing Gloves
226 The Rice and Orange Trick
230 The Drawer-Box
234 The Changing Ladle
236 The Inexhaustible Bottle
240 The Bottle and Ribbons
242 The Mysterious Funnel
244 The Box of Bran Transformed to a Bottle of Wine
247 The Bran Bottle
248 The Bran Glass
249 To Fire Borrowed Rings from a Pistol, and Make Them Pass Into a Goblet Filled with Bran and Covered with a Handkerchief, the Bran Disappearing, and Being Found Elsewhere
251 The Butterfly Trick
252 The Wizard's Omelet (Borrowed Rings and Live Doves Produced from an Omelet)
255 The Chinese Rings
265 The Cannon-Ball Globe
269 To Balance an Egg on the End of a Straw
270 The Obedient Candle
271 The Bran Plate
272 Bran Disappearing from a Glass, and Reappearing Under a Plate
273 The "Coffee Trick" - Improved
276 The Mysterious Coffee-Cups
276 The Enchanted Colored Sands
277 The Famous Egg and Bag Trick
280 The Wine and Water Transformation
281 The Tambourine and Ribbon Trick
283 The Transformation of Paper Shavings into Coffee and Milk
284 The Bewitched Fan
286 The Vanishing Canary Bird and Cage
289 The Floating Coin
289 The Mystic Afghan Bands
290 The Cross of the Orient
293 The Latest Cigarette Evanishment
294 Stage Tricks
295 1. The Plain Trap
296 2. The "Wrist" or "Pressure" Trap
298 3. The "Rabbit" or "Dove" Trap
301 4. "Changing" Traps
306 Pistons
312 The Rabbit Trick
315 The Fairy Star
318 The Card Bouquet
319 The Demon's Head
326 The Magic Picture Frame
329 The Flying Watches and the Broken Plate
331 The Cabinet of Proteus
334 The Broken Mirror
341 The Bewitched Skull and Talking Hand
344 The Mystic Flight
349 The New Half-Lady Illusion
352 "Oh! Where Am I?"
359 Black Art Up To Date
389 The Art of Juggling
389 The Balanced Coins
390 The Centre of Gravity
392 Stick Breaking
393 Remarkable Swordsmanship
394 The Balancing Billiard Ball and Cue
397 Egg-Spinning Extraordinary
397 Blindfold Jugglery
400 The Spinning Hat
401 Ball Spinning
401 An Egg-and-Stick Balance
402 The Sword and Coin
403 The Whirling Hoop and Glass of Water
404 The Spinning Handkerchief
405 The Traveling Billiard Balls
406 Novel Hat Manipulation
408 A Complicated Balance
410 The Card, Candlestick and Cigar Balance
411 Hand Shadowgraphy
415 Dog and Rabbit
415 A "New" Rabbit
416 French Chef and Frying Pan
416 The Man and the Bottle
420 President McKinley
421 Mr. Gladstone
422 Napoleon
423 The Giraffe
424 The Preacher
425 Woman and Spoon
426 The Swan
427 Man with Pipe
428 The Conductor and Lady Vocalist
430 The Horse
431 The Dentist
432 The Snuff-Taker
433 The Fowl
434 The Dancer
435 A French Advocate
436 The Woman at Her Toilet
439 Mr. and Mrs. Caudle
440 A Good Story

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Illustrated cloth hardcover, 300 illustrations, 5-1/2 x 7-3/4" format, 448 pg.

Condition: acceptable. Cover has some rub and what appears to be red color run in places. Inside unmarked, but from about pg 211 to 280s, there is a very light edge dampstain, see last picture. Might be an illusion!

"Thoroughly explains and teaches how to perform all the standard tricks and latest illusions of the present day, including chapters on juggling and hand shadows."