Roterberg, August: Card Tricks and How To Do Them
©1902 1st Edition, Charles T. Powner & Co., Chicago
Hardcover, 159 pages
©1903 Edition, Frederick J. Drake & Co.
Hardcover, 188 pages
Online Price 100.00
Comments (Lybrary.com): This book is an excerpt from New Era Card Tricks. Here is a historical ad from the Charles T. Powner Co. in Chicago: "This book gives, with careful and easy instructions, the newest card tricks and sleight-of-hand yet offered to professionals and amateurs. Not only does this book contain all of the new tricks, but nearly every one known is fully explained and exposed by explicit directions and carefully prepared illustrations. 160 pages, 80 fine illustrations..."
Contents:
2 Introduction
5 Sleights
5 The Double Handed Pass
9 Herrmann Pass
13 Charlier Pass
17 The Force
20 Changes
21 The Top Change
22 The Bottom Change
24 The New Top Change
25 Mexican Turnover
26 Excelsior Change
28 The Color Change
36 Card Palming
42 Card Sleights
47 The New Glimpse
50 The Bridge
51 Prearranged Pack
52 The Glide
54 Revolution
56 False Shuffles
59 The Cut
61 Penetration of Matter
64 Magic Versus Mnemonics
66 Queen of the Air
69 Card Caught on Plate
71 Second Sight
74 The Attached Card
76 Cards Shot Against a Hat
78 War in Peace
80 Thought Reading
82 Mysterious Change
85 Handkerchief Trick
87 Itinerant Card
90 Card in the Pocket
92 Gravity Defied
96 Demon Envelope
100 The Ubiquitous Card
101 Four Cards Caught at Finger Tips
106 Cards, Coins and Glass
113 The Halved Cut
116 The Phoenix
118 Lost Ace
120 Thought Foretold
122 Pierced Card
125 Card Box
127 Card Box, Mechanical
128 The New Brass Card Box
130 Vanishing Cards
131 X Rays
135 Balanced Card
136 The Card Servante
139 Rapid Transit
140 Conjurer's Prediction
143 Card Frames
147 The Cards and Mirror
148 Singular Transposition
153 Vice Versa
155 Mystic Divination
157 Advertisements
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CARD TRICKS AND HOW TO DO THEM & Sleight of Hand by A. Roterberg
Published by Frederick J. Drake & Co., Chicago, 1902. Hardcover decorative stamped boards with title to cover and spine. 168 pages + ads. A classic and advanced book on Card Magic at the turn of the century. The section on trick and mechanical cards is quite advanced and excellent. Most likely it is thought S.W. Erdnase author of "The Expert At The Card Table" for want of a better word, borrowed, liberlly from Roterberg's book for the card material for his own book Illustrated with drawings. Findlay p.227, Price p.330, Christopher vol.2 #2490. Scarce in hardcover.
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| Read It |
No |
| Location |
Magic Library (Home) Shelf T |
| Condition |
Good |
| Owner |
Bryan-Keith Taylor |
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A. ROTERBERG
Expert Card Manipulator
FULLY ILLUSTRATED
FREDERICK J. DRAKE & COMPANY
Publishers, Copyright ©1903, Chicago.
This is a fairly-good-condition copy of this 106-year-old book, which contains some of the material (and illustrations) from August Roterberg's 1897 work New Era Card Tricks (described in Stephen Minch's From Witchcraft to Card Tricks as "the first important book on conjuring to be written in the United States").
The spine of the green cloth covering is faded and there is a nick at the bottom of the front cover. Naturally, there is some foxing to the pages (see scan), but none are missing, marked on, or damaged. The last 20 pages of the book are advertise- ments for other Drake publications, which includes The Expert at the Card Table (cloth copy for $1.00). This copy from the Charles Nagel Collection was presented to Shirley L. Quimby by the Society of American Magicians (see scan with inscription).
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A rarity from the age of magic. A classic advanced book on Card Magic at the turn of the century. The section on trick and mechanical cards is quite advanced & is excellent. Most likely it is thought S.W. Erdnase author of "The Expert At The Card Table" for want of a better word, borrowed, liberally from Roterberg's book for the card material for his own book. Illustrated with drawings. Findlay p.227, Price p.330. A classic work.
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M.U.M. Was Edited by Shirley L. Quimby.
Dr. Shirley L. Quimby, apparatus expert, professor of physics at Columbia University.
M.U.M. Is The Official Publication Of The Society Of American Magicians.
Charles Nagel, (?-1951)
American Club Magician And Author.
August Roterberg
Born Hamberg, Germany Born 1867 Died September 23, 1928
Cause of death natural causes
Nationality German
Occupation magic shop owner
Known for sleight of Hand, card magic
History
August Roterberg (1867 - 1928) was born in Hamburg, Germany and emigrated to the United States around 1883 as a teenager. He started out selling magic by mail order, and then opened a magic store in Chicago. It was housed in the lobby of the "old" Palmer House Hotel.
Roterberg really started the modern age of magic publishing. His books were the first in English, written expressly for magicians. Roterberg's books were published by a magic dealer specifically for sale in magical depots, rather than for wide distribution to the general public. He ended up selling his mail order business in 1908 to Ralph W. Read and his shop to Arthur & Carl Felsman in 1916.
Roterberg is best known as a magic inventor and is credited with inventing the "Multiplying Billiard Balls" trick.
He eventually retired around 1917 and eventually moved to California, where lived until death.
Published Works
The Modern Wizard (1895)
Latter Day Tricks (1896)
New Era Card Tricks (1897)
Card Tricks and How To Do Them (1902)
