I wanted to know if there are any books/resources to learn more about trick decks, such as the stripper, mirage, invisible, and Svengali decks? I still am quite new to magic, so any information is greatly appreciated? (And I know that many advise reading magic books that teach sleights using a regular deck of cards first, which I am currently on chapter 5 of so of Royal Road to Card Magic, however, I know that some feats are only possible with a gimmicked deck of cards, and I would like to learn as much as possible about that as well
Books/Resources on Trick Decks??
- Thread starter serjio11
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Welcome to the forums and welcome to magic. The book you want is Encyclopedia of Card Tricks which was originally two books written by Glenn Gravatt and then compiled into its current version by Jean Hugard. The contents are here:
https://magicref.net/magicbooks/books/hugardjeanencyclopedia.htm
The chapters on "Slick" cards and "Diachylon" emulate the principles used in an invisible deck. "A Super Reverse Problem" on page 335 uses a similar principle for a Brainwave type effect. There are chapters on using double-backed, double-faced and one way deck designs. There are chapters on Svengali, Stripper and Mene-Tekel decks. Page 253 talks about the Mirage deck. There also is a chapter on Short Card which are one of my favorite weapons.
The book is available for free electronically at lybrary,com if you sign up for an account as part of their Learned Pig Project archives. If you are interested in further research, I'd recommend signing up at the Conjuring Arts Research center for an account which gives you access to the Jinx archives. Then you can use https://www.conjuringarchive.com to search for terms and find corresponding effect in The Jinx. For example, Dai Vernon's Brainwave effect is discussed in issue 49.
As a final note, I actually recommend learning some self-working and gaff principles at the same time as learning sleight of hand. That is exactly what is taught in Encyclopedia of Card Tricks.
Good luck. We're here if you have any specific questions or need some help.
https://magicref.net/magicbooks/books/hugardjeanencyclopedia.htm
The chapters on "Slick" cards and "Diachylon" emulate the principles used in an invisible deck. "A Super Reverse Problem" on page 335 uses a similar principle for a Brainwave type effect. There are chapters on using double-backed, double-faced and one way deck designs. There are chapters on Svengali, Stripper and Mene-Tekel decks. Page 253 talks about the Mirage deck. There also is a chapter on Short Card which are one of my favorite weapons.
The book is available for free electronically at lybrary,com if you sign up for an account as part of their Learned Pig Project archives. If you are interested in further research, I'd recommend signing up at the Conjuring Arts Research center for an account which gives you access to the Jinx archives. Then you can use https://www.conjuringarchive.com to search for terms and find corresponding effect in The Jinx. For example, Dai Vernon's Brainwave effect is discussed in issue 49.
As a final note, I actually recommend learning some self-working and gaff principles at the same time as learning sleight of hand. That is exactly what is taught in Encyclopedia of Card Tricks.
Good luck. We're here if you have any specific questions or need some help.
Great advice by David. I'd also strongly recommend first developing the fundamental skills of card magic before moving on to gaff decks.
Encyclopedia of Card Tricks is certainly a good place to look for info about the most common gaff decks. The Svengali and Stripper decks are among the most common ones, but over time there's a growing number of gimmicked decks that have become popular as a result of new ideas and methods that have become possible, especially the Invisible Deck, and derivatives like the Brainwave deck and many, many others.
Encyclopedia of Card Tricks is certainly a good place to look for info about the most common gaff decks. The Svengali and Stripper decks are among the most common ones, but over time there's a growing number of gimmicked decks that have become popular as a result of new ideas and methods that have become possible, especially the Invisible Deck, and derivatives like the Brainwave deck and many, many others.