By the end of America s Golden Age of Magic, Chicago had taken center stage in front of an American audience drawn to the craft by the likes of Harry Houdini and Howard Thurston. Cashing in on a craze that rivaled big-band mania, magic shops and clubs sprang up everywhere across the Windy City, packed in customers and put down roots. Over the last century, for example, Magic, Inc. has outfitted magicians from Harry Blackstone Sr. to Penn and Teller to David Copperfield. Magic was an integral part of Chicago s culture, from its earliest venture into live television to the card sharps and hucksters lurking in its amusement parks and pool halls. David Witter keeps track of the shell game of Chicago s fascinating magic history from its vaudeville circuit to its contemporary resurgence.

A selection of fifty of Guy de Maupassant's finest short stories, including "Was It a Dream?" "Madame Baptiste," "The Lancer's Wife," "The Relics," "The Carter's Wench," and many more!

Would you believe that you could ask a full-grown man to hold a penny for you and then tell him to drop it and finds he can t, hard as he may try? In what is undoubtedly the most original magic book of our time, John Fisher shows the reader how, with minimal practice, he can use the marvels of the human body to entertain and mystify friends and family, small and large audiences. This book is first of all a delight to read because of the instant education it provides us with about the unknown powers we have in our hands, our eyes, our noses, and our incredible nervous system. In each case, Mr. Fisher shows the easy-to-grasp principle first and then how to put the principle to work in actual tricks. Most magic books require a great deal of study and dexterity. This one enables you to entertain people even before you have finished the book. Moreover, you never have to worry about being prepared, because you always have with you all the miraculous things you need your hands, your eyes, and the rest of your body."

Magic has enchanted humankind for millennia, evoking terror, laughter, shock, and amazement. Once persecuted as heretics and sorcerers, magicians have always been conduits to a parallel universe of limitless possibility-whether invoking spirits, reading minds, or inverting the laws of nature by sleight of hand. Long before science fiction, virtual realities, video games, and the Internet, the craft of magic was the most powerful fantasy world man had ever known. As the pioneers of special effects throughout history, magicians have never ceased to mystify us by making the impossible possible. This book celebrates more than 500 years of the stunning visual culture of the world's greatest magicians. Featuring more than 750 rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings as well as paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and Bruegel among others, The Magic Book traces the history of magic as a performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s. Combining sensational images with incisive text, the book explores the evolution of the magicians' craft, from medieval street performers to the brilliant stage magicians who gave rise to cinematic special effects; from the 19th century's golden age of magic to groundbreaking daredevils like Houdini and the early 20th century's vaudevillians.

To spice up dinner parties, readers can turn to this book for more than 150 tricks anyone can do at the dinner table--from making salt and pepper shakers disappear to bending solid silver utensils with a quarter. 113 diagrams.

Do you want to learn the strategies for winning tournaments? Are you worried about your lacking knowledge that gets in your way of deck building? Do you need some advice? Are you ready now to master the rules of the game? Are you tired of banging your head against a wall? If you keep playing poor strategies, do you think you will master the game? Is this working for you? Magic The Gathering: 3 Manuscripts - Rules and Getting Started, Strategy Guide, Deck Building For Beginners shows you everything you need to get started. This includes an overview of types of players and a look at types of decks for winning. This is a book of action and doesn't just tell you to try harder. This book will get you moving in the right direction. Packed full of real-life examples for players like you, this book has proven techniques of that have worked for thousands of people. These methods are backed up countless games played, all which will arm you with a mindset primed for deck building with winning in mind.