Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic (book) – Martin Gardner ESTATE

Used condition, the binding ripped about 1″ at top Spine, top and bottom binding shows wear.

Hard cover 571 pages

Title: Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic

Author: Martin Gardner

Publisher: Magic Inc, Chicago IL, USA

Publication Date: 1978

Hardcover

Book Size: 8″x11″

Pages: 574

Edition: 1st Edition/1st Printing

Encyclopedia of Impromptu Magic was serialized by Martin Gardner in Hugard’s Magic Monthly from 1951 to1958.

The Encyclopedia is a massive collection of principles and effects, a lot of which are simple novelties, but some are fantastic principles which entire routines or acts can be built around, often summed up in a single paragraph. The most comprehensive collection of close-up magic tricks using ordinary objects calling for no special apparatus, gimmicks or advanced preparation. From tricks with apples and bottle caps to tooth picks and whisk brooms, this collection offers concise and practical instructions for a wide range of fascinating magic.

It’s arranged alphabetically in order of object – so the first two pages contain “Apple”, and 10 numbered paragraphs of effects or stunts using apples – breaking apples in two with your bare hands, peeling an apple and discovering it pre-cut, party games involving apples, a better technique for apple-ducking, the illusion of an apple bouncing, and a divination technique using apple skin, among others. It’s a wonderful reference, and there’s nothing else quite like it. Not all of it is magic, and not all of it is strictly “Impromptu”, although everything involves everyday objects.

Excerpts from Mr. Gardner’s introduction to the book:

“I wrote my “Encyclopedia” mainly for the fun of it, and to get into some sort of shape the thousands of notes I had scribbled over the years on three-by-five cards. It was written quickly and carelessly, in an annoying telegraphic style intended to compress as much as possible into the allotted space, and with almost no attempt to research the magic literature. Even the word ‘impromptu’ was used loosely. By and large the material was limited to tricks with ordinary objects calling for no special apparatus, gimmicks or advanced preparation.”

“Card tricks were left out, as well as rope tricks, nor was it possible to cover the vast fields of sleights involving such objects as coins, cigarettes and thimbles, although tricks with those objects were included. I hoped that someday I might find time for extensive revisions and additions … [and that] I would attempt a comprehensive cross index. The work remains patchy and slovenly. It makes no pretense at completeness. Excellent impromptu tricks are missing because I happened not to come across them.”