Classic Must Have Books

[worldwideme]

allright, i hardly know any, so. heres the few i can think of

Royal Road To Card Magic

ok anybody else? haha i know its sad, but thats really the extent of my knowledge, i'm sure i know more, but. i'm not sure if the count as classic

 

[UnknownMagician93]

Erdnase


Done.

 

[visualartist]

Erdnase


Done.

Not even close to done.
Tarbell and bobo anybody?

 

[worldwideme]

ok i dont feel so bad anymore i know all three of those names. but i dont know what kind books they wrote, beyond erdnase did cards and the tarbells complete course

 

[KeoSilver]

Are you a beginner? If so I do not suggest erdnase, Tarbell is great to start with, easy workable stuff in there. Mark Wilson, Joshua Jay are some others I would say look into.

 

[visualartist]

Royal road first and then erdnase.
Even though I started with erdnase,I wouldve improved sooner and more efficiently with royal road being first

 

[Chaseman27]

Amateur Magician's Handbook by Henry Hay

Practical Mental Magic by Theodore Annemann

13 Steps to Mentalism by Tony Corinda

Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic

Modern Coin Magic by J.B. Bobo

Just a small few of the many classics written on our art that should be in everyone's library.

Also check Here for an absolutely mind blowing list of reading.

All the best,
-Chase

 

[RealityOne]

Add the following "classics" to the list (some of which are on the link Chaseman provided):

Hugard & Braue - Expert Card Technique (I think this should follow RRTCM before Erdnase)

Buckley - Card Control

Hugard - Encyclopedia of Card Tricks

Stars of Magic

Hugard's Magic Manual

 

[chriswiehl]

carneycopia is a great book.
i have a tarbell book,
maybe check out some harry lorayne stuff
banacheck subtleties books

 

[Huruey]

Some that haven't already been mentioned...

Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz
Williamson's Wonder's by Richard Kaufman (on the work of David Williamson)
Art of Astonishment 1-3 by Paul Harris
Card Manipulations 1-5 Jean Hugard

 

[Bungee]

Now You See, Now You Don't - Bill Tarr
Beyond Secrets - Jay Sankey

 

[worldwideme]

Amateur Magician's Handbook by Henry Hay

Practical Mental Magic by Theodore Annemann

13 Steps to Mentalism by Tony Corinda

Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic

Modern Coin Magic by J.B. Bobo

Just a small few of the many classics written on our art that should be in everyone's library.

Also check Here for an absolutely mind blowing list of reading.

All the best,
-Chase

great link, is it stickied somewhere?
and is there any one place where i can purchase most of those books? i'd hate to make like 8 different purchases from 8 different sites,

 

[Mat La Vore]

There are a lot of good books, but if you're looking for some of the more recent classics I'd say the top picks are:

13 Steps to Mentalism - Tony Corinda
Expert at the Card Table - SW Erdnase
Magic and Showmanship - Henning Nelms
Modern Coin Magic - JB Bobo
Royal Road to Card Magic - Jean Hugard & Frederick Braue
Revolutionary Card Technique - Ed Marlo
Tarbell Course in Magic - Harlan Tarbell

Paul Harris and Jay Sankey are two of my favorite magicians, but I'm not sure I'd consider Beyond Secrets or Art of Astonishment classics (both were published in under the last 14 years). Modern classics maybe, but not classics in the traditional sense.

Hope that helps. Happy Magic.

 

[spades894]

Now you see it, Now you don't - Bill Tarr -Great sleight of hand
Mark Wilson's Complete Course - Classic, most of my repertoire comes from here
Tarbell Course - Epic. This will keep you occupied forever. All kinds of magic in here
Erdnase and Bobo's - On my reading list

 

[visualartist]

I think fundamentals should be read before 13 steps.

 

[Steerpike]

Fundamentals - Bob Cassidy
Complete Course in Magic - Mark Wilson
Encyclopedia of Card Tricks - Hugard
Modern Coin Magic - J.B. Bobo
The Jinx - Anneman et al

You get those, it's enough to build an entire career.

 

[worldwideme]

You get those, it's enough to build an entire career.

hm, that sparks some questions, that I don't think even steerpike saw coming,

allright, my book case contains the following, books, that i use regulary,

-Royal Road,

-Practical Mental Magic, Theodore Anneman

-Magic: the complete course. Joshua Jay

so now my question is; what else is needed to "build an entire career"?

 

[visualartist]

hm, that sparks some questions, that I don't think even steerpike saw coming,

allright, my book case contains the following, books, that i use regulary,

-Royal Road,

-Practical Mental Magic, Theodore Anneman

-Magic: the complete course. Joshua Jay

so now my question is; what else is needed to "build an entire career"?

A character/personality when performing for starters.

 

[worldwideme]

A character/personality when performing for starters.

ok yeah, i meant book wise. but thanks. ha

 

[Steerpike]

so now my question is; what else is needed to "build an entire career"?

With everything on my list, you have enough material to last you damn near a lifetime at the very least.

If you want to learn more about the business side of magic and mentalism, track down anything Rick Maue has ever said about business. Any place you want to go, he can tell you how to get there. Just Google his name and look for interviews. He was a guest at the Magic Cafe once. Not many people tried to contradict him because they realized doing so would only end with Rick proving them wrong and making them look like a colossal tool in the process.

If you want to learn about performance theory, there's a lot of ground to cover.

Mystery School - Jeff McBride, Eugene Burger
The Secret Art of Magic - Nowlan Craver and Eric Evans
Mystery by Association - Kenton Knepper
The Shiels Effect - Doc Shiels
An Actor Prepares - Constantin Stanislavski