Charles Jordan's Best Card Tricks

by Karl Fulves

One of the legendary figures in the history of card magic, Charles T. Jordan (1888–1944) is known for the astonishing range of his inventive ability, the subtlety of his thinking, and the fact that so many of his creations have become magic classics. Although he did not perform in public, he profoundly influenced later generations of magicians and his writings embody many of the fundamental principles used in card magic today.
In this volume, one of today's best-known writers on magic has compiled a wealth of Jordan's most impressive card tricks — impromptu tricks, banded-deck tricks, stacked-deck tricks, sleight-of-hand tricks, prepared-card tricks, shuffle systems, four-ace tricks, tricks using stripper decks and one-way decks, and many more. Now you can learn amazing feats of card manipulation that not only baffle amateurs but fool professional magicians as well. To aid the amateur performer, Karl Fulves has completely rewritten each trick, added explanatory details where necessary, and suggested simpler alternative techniques to complicated or advanced methods.
By following the carefully written and illustrated instructions in this book you can add these mystifying manipulations to your card conjuring repertoire: The Incomprehensible Destroyed Card, The Triple Escape, Psychic Prediction, Quadruple Concentration, Bewildero, An Impromptu Detection, Satan's Prophecy, The Demon Color Change, Long-Distance Mind Reading, The Bewitched Aces, The Master Riddle, The Electrified Strippers, The Stabbed Pair, and scores of others. Over 260 illustrations by Joseph Schmidt augment the text and demonstrate the techniques needed to master each trick.

Contents: 

1 Impromptu Card Tricks
1 The Hourglass Card Trick
2 A New Card Discovery
2 The Infallible Detection
3 "Infallible Detection" Notes"
4 Forty-Nine
5 "Forty-Nine" Notes"
5 The Keystone Card Trick
6 Double Prediction
7 Mephisto's Prediction
9 The Sequel
9 Master Stop Trick
11 The Spirit Mathematician
13 The Five Guesses
14 "Five Guesses" Notes"
15 The Incomprehensible Destroyed Card
17 "Incomprehensible Destroyed Card" Notes"
18 Card Tearing

21 The Banded Deck
21 The Straitjacket Reversed Card
22 Elasticity
24 The Escape
27 "Escape" Notes"
28 The Triple Escape
30 The Impossibility Journey
31 Transposition Extraordinary
33 The Downs Hinge Shift
34 The Downs Slip Cut
34 "Downs Slip Cut" Notes"

36 Stacked-Deck Tricks
36 Psycholia
37 Divino
38 "Divino" Notes"
38 Psychic Prediction
40 Mephistopheles' Touch
41 The Dream
42 C.T.J. Detection
43 Ex-Cello Card Discovery
44 Strange Coincidence
44 The Wizard's Will
45 "Wizard's Will" Notes"
46 Discard Trick
46 The Missing Pair
47 "Missing Pair" Notes"

49 Gambling Secrets
49 Quadruple Concentration
50 The Magi's Detection
52 "Magi's Detection" Notes"
52 The Impenetrable Stop Trick
54 It's Up to You
54 Punched Card Notes
56 The Sagacious Joker
57 "Sagacious Joker" Notes"
58 Impromptu Card Reader
60 Henry Gavin's False Cut

61 Sleight-of-Hand Tricks
61 Bewildero
62 Bewildero II
63 The Barefaced Detection
64 Color Divination
65 "Color Divination" Notes"
66 Reversed Cards
67 Improved Pocket to Pocket
68 The Single-Card Reverse
71 The Half-Pack Reverse
72 "Half-Pack Reverse" Notes"
72 The Alternate Reverse

75 More Impromptu Card Tricks
75 The Unknown Leaper
76 "Unknown Leaper" Notes"
77 With the Mind's Eye
79 The Twentieth-Century Puzzle
80 Weirdo
82 The Fade-Out Vanish
82 An Impromptu Detection
83 "Impromptu Detection" Notes"
84 Satan's Prophecy
86 Satan's Prophecy Improved
87 The Simplicity Speller
88 "Simplicity Speller" Notes"
90 The Climax
91 "Climax" Notes"

93 Prepared Card Tricks
93 1923 Card and Handkerchief
95 The Spirit Aces
97 The Brain Twister
98 Diabolical Reversed Card
101 Joker Monte
102 "Joker Monte" Notes"
103 Pedro Monte
104 The Demon Color Change
105 "Demon Color Change" Notes"
106 The Bisected Queen
107 The Monarch-Card-and-Pocket Mystery
110 The Contrary Clock
112 "Contrary Clock" Notes"

114 Shuffle Systems
114 A Shuffle Secret
115 Close-Range Mind Reading
116 Long-Distance Mind Reading
118 The Premo
119 The Dealing Dovetail Detection
121 "Dealing Dovetail Detection" Notes"
121 The Rolling-Off-a-Log Detection
122 "Rolling-Off-a-Log Detection" Notes"
123 The Full Hand
124 "Full Hand" Notes"
125 The Wonder Force
126 Improved Chevalier Card Trick
127 Thought Foretold
128 Premier Card Discovery
128 The Simplissimo Detection

130 Four-Ace Tricks
130 The Perennial Aces
132 "Perennial Aces" Notes"
133 The Amazing Aces
135 The Bewitched Aces
135 "Bewitched Aces" Notes"
136 The Pinochle Ace Trick
138 Leave It to the Aces
139 "Leave It to the Aces" Notes"
140 Mystery Aces
142 "Mystery Aces" Notes"

143 Subtle Secrets
143 New Card Reading
144 "New Card Reading" Notes"
145 Stampedo
147 The New-Pack Detection
148 The Lifesaver
149 Coincidentally
151 "Coincidentally" Notes"
152 Transfero
154 "Transfero" Notes"
155 The Master Riddle
156 Satan's Trance
158 "Satan's Trance" Notes"
159 Telepathic Control

160 More Stacked-Deck Tricks
160 Diabolical Transposition
161 "Diabolical Transposition" Notes"
162 Fate and the Joker
163 An Odd-Even Experiment
164 The Mysterious Detective
165 Take-a-Peek Card Trick
166 The Flush Trick
167 Poker Player's Dream
168 The Poker Shark
170 The Vanished Card
171 "Vanished Card" Notes"
172 Prophesied Spot Total
173 "Prophesied Spot Total" Notes"
173 Cremo Card Restoration
174 Demon's Divination
175 "Demon's Divination" Notes"
176 The Card-and-Number Mystery
176 Extraordinary Clairvoyance

178 Strippers and One-Way Decks
178 Stripper Secrets
179 Just the Reverse
181 The Four Flusher
182 Perfection Method for Strippers
183 "Perfection Method for Strippers" Notes"
184 The Electrified Strippers
185 "Electrified Strippers" Notes"
186 One-Way Secrets
187 The Wizard Reader
188 "Wizard Reader" Notes"
189 The Hummer Detection
190 "Hummer Detection" Notes"
191 Incomprendo Speller
192 "Incomprendo Speller" Notes"
194 Mephistopheles' Own
195 Faces or Backs-Which?
196 Premo Detection
196 "Premo Detection" Notes"
197 The Trio
198 Twentieth-Century Sorcery
199 Change Your Mind?

201 Further Impromptu Card Tricks
201 Etad-ot-Pu
203 The O.K. X-Ray
204 The Banner Card Discovery
205 The Haunted Deck
208 Sympathetic Sympathy
210 The 52-Card Trick
212 Presto Pass
212 "Presto Pass" Notes"
213 A Novel Force
213 The Stabbed Pair
214 The Suits Unscrambled
216 Demon's Detection
216 "Demon's Detection" Notes"
217 Satan's Touch

218 More Prepared-Card Tricks
218 The Nine-in-Ten Detection
219 The Utility Pack
220 "Utility Pack" Notes"
221 The Latest Forcing Deck222
222 "Latest Forcing Deck" Notes"
222 The Mystery Problem
224 The Latest Haunted Ace
224 One Ahead
226 Poker Shark II
227 The Idol's Vision
228 Reverse English on the X-Ray
229 Spelling Any Card Called For

231 A Jordan Card Routine
231 The Inseparable Aces
232 The Ready Reckoner
233 The Pair Detection
234 The Dead-Easy Location
235 The Nifty Key

236 The Ever Ready Principle
236 Spook Card
237 Ultimo
239 The Reversed Card
240 Wholesale Reversals
240 Mind Reading
241 The Spelling Trick
242 A Unique Reverse
243 "Unique Reverse" Notes"
243 Speaking of Pink Elephants

247 The Jordan Count
247 The Phantom Aces
249 Jordan Count Notes
250 Red-Black Mix-Up
250 Indetecto
251 The Haxton Count

Details: Charles Jordan's Best Card Tricks by Karl Fulves

252 pages, soft covers, perfect binding, size: 5/12" by 8 1/2".

Skill level: Intermediate to advanced. Suitable for ages 17 to adult.