Henry Hay – The Amateur Magicians Handbook

For more than a generation The Amateur Magician’s Handbook has been the acknowledged classic text for conjurers， both beginners and advanced. Even David Copperfield recommended it during one of his TV specials. Literally thousands of magicians found their love for magic through this book. Several of these magicians are today recognized performers. This fourth edition， expanded as well as thoroughly revised， and introduced by Milbourne Christopher， includes a section where the Amazing Randi contributes his experience using video for self-coaching.

This new edition teaches， briskly yet carefully， with hundreds of illustrations， all the skills and secrets of the wizard’s repertoire： reading minds， pulling rabbits from hats， turning red handkerchiefs green， dissolving konts， pouring drinks from empty jars， dealing yourself all the aces， finding silver dollars in the air， to name a few.

The Amateur Magician’s Handbook stands alone in showing how and why magic works as entertainment： how spectators think and how you must think， and feel， to make puzzling tricks pleasing.

A comprehensive new section covers the difficult but rewarding (and potentially profitable) art of entertaining children.

The final sections tell you what you need to know about conjuring beyond the tricks： comedy; pantomime; music. An extensive bio-bibliography includes not only the great conjurers of the past but also the up-and-coming conjurers of today.

Lastly， author Henry Hay offers guidance on making magic make money for you. “If I hear of someone’s studying The Amateur Magician’s Handbook and then climbing out of the amateur class by getting paid for a show，” says Henry Hay， “I shall be satisfied.”

Table of Contents

1st edition 1950; 4th edition 1982; 424 pages