It has always been a problem for magicians who are just starting out to get a handle on where to begin. The following is my take on the subject with regards to card magic. Rather than buying the latest and greatest this will provide a progressive set of proven texts and DVDs for you to study from. If you think I’ve left anything out then feel free to comment or email me. Although I tend to use books as my core source, I have included some DVD titles in an attempt to be fair and balanced. The links are to UK shops, but they do ship worldwide and these titles should be available from any good magic retailer worldwide.
The Basics
This step is to get you out and performing magic, which after all is the point. Remember magic is above all a performance art and you may have the chops but its worthless if you can’t stand up and do it.
- 12 Brick of Bicycle Playing Cards (£15). Enough Poker sized playing cards to keep you going for months.
- Royal Road to Card Magic by Hugard and Braue (£7). The classic beginners text.
- Born to Perform DVD (£16). Not a bad DVD actually; this one will get you out and performing quickly.
This little set should keep you going for a good six months to really work through the material.
Next Steps
Now its time to get serious and learn some big chops. Both these courses represent a significant investment, but since your serious about getting into card magic that shouldn’t be a problem. Lest we forget all the money I’ve saved you by not buying crap. Unless you’ve got more money than sense then you only need buy one or the other, thankfully. For me it would be Card College, but I appreciate some people love to work from video.
- Card College Volume 1-5 (£109).
- Daryls Encyclopedia of Card Sleights Volume 1-8 DVD (~£28 per Volume).
Remember you only need to buy one or the other, and that should keep you going for about 12-18 months, or the rest of your life if you want to stop there.
Deep Cuts
And now you’ve got that learning curve out of the way its time to start studying magicians rather than moves. This is where you get more exposure to the history and contributions made by key card magicians. You don’t need to get all of these but dip in and out where you think appropriate.
- Dai Vernon’s Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Lewis Ganson.
- Dai Vernon’s More Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Lewis Ganson.
- Dai Vernon’s Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic by Lewis Ganson.
- Expert at the Card Table by S. W. Erdnase.
- Collected Works of Alex Elmsley vol 1 & 2. by Stephen Minch.
- The Card Magic of LePaul by Paul LePaul
- The Card Magic of Bro. John Hamman by Paul LePaul
- The Complete Walton Volume 1 & 2 by Roy Walton
- The Cardician by Ed Marlo
- The Card Magic of Edward Marlo, Ed Marlo
This list is by no means exhaustive, but should put you on the right tracks. I am slowly putting in place a list of reviews for each title mentioned and will link it here once I’m done. As always comments are more than welcome.