SYNOPSIS:
Latest Magic: Being Original Conjuring Tricks is Professor Hoffmann’s final major collection of practical magic. Unlike his earlier books, which often documented established material, Hoffmann presents this volume as a collection of effects and apparatus largely of his own invention. The book emphasizes ingenious mechanical principles, handmade props, concealed devices, and carefully arranged routines suited to parlor and small-stage performance.
The opening chapters introduce utility ideas such as magical mats, flowerpots, adhesive cards, black-art patches, and other devices that can be adapted to multiple effects. Hoffmann then explains routines with cards and dice, including The Missing Card, The Detective Die, Dissolving Dice, Arithmetic by Magic, The Telepathic Tape, A Card Comedy, and Sympathetic Cards. A later miscellaneous section features effects with coins, rings, beans, blocks, seals, paper objects, and specially constructed apparatus.
The closing chapters discuss patter, the handling and meaning of the magician’s wand, and assorted practical refinements. These sections offer useful performance advice, but the book remains primarily a collection of original tricks and apparatus rather than a dedicated work of magic theory.
Book Details:
Author/Creator: Professor Hoffmann
Publisher: Spon & Chamberlain
Publication Year: 1918
Subjects: Cards, Dice, Everyday Objects, Parlor Magic
Pages: 222
Skill Level: Intermediate
Availability: Lybrary.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Portrait of Professor Hoffmann (Frontispiece)
• Preface (p. vii)
Some New Appliances of General Utility
• Magical Mats (p. 1)
• Fairy Flower-Pots (p. 5)
• Patter Introducing the Flower-Pots (p. 8)
• Adhesive Cards and Tricks Therewith (p. 10)
• The Missing Card (p. 12)
Novel Applications of the “Black Art” Principle
• Black Art Mats and Black Art Patches (p. 17)
• A Magical Transposition (p. 23)
• The Detective Die (p. 26)
• Dissolving Dice (p. 32)
• Where is It? (p. 38)
Card Tricks
• Arithmetic by Magic (p. 46)
• Those Naughty Knaves (p. 49)
• Magnetic Magic (p. 55)
• The Telepathic Tape (p. 57)
• A Card Comedy (p. 60)
• The Fast and Loose Card-Box (p. 63)
• A Royal Tug of War (p. 64)
• Sympathetic Cards (p. 66)
• Tell-Tale Fingers (p. 68)
• Divination Doubly Difficult (p. 72)
• A New Long Card and Tricks Therewith (p. 77)
• The Mascot Coin Box (p. 83)
Miscellaneous Tricks
• Money-Making Made Easy (p. 88)
• The Missing Link (p. 92)
• Culture Extraordinary (p. 97)
• The Bounding Beans (p. 104)
• Lost and Found (p. 110)
• The Riddle of the Pyramids (p. 115)
• The Miracle of Mumbo Jumbo (p. 123)
• The Story of the Alkahest (p. 130)
• The Oracle of Memphis (p. 137)
• The Mystery of Mahomet (p. 146)
• The Bewildering Blocks (p. 156)
• An “Od” Force (p. 162)
• The Mystery of the Three Seals (p. 170)
• The Wizard’s Pocketbook (p. 180)
Concerning Patter (p. 192)
The Use of the Wand (p. 203)
A Few Wrinkles (p. 215)
L’Envoi (p. 222)
