Dai Vernon - Revelations Manuscript

FOREWORD

This is t he book I have always wanted to write.

For nearly fifty years

I have been :Ln touch with active card men, ethical and other1vise, and have discovered that Erdnase as an author is general-ly misunderstood and misinterpreted. My object in writing, this book is threefold.

F:Lrst, it

~~11

to stress the utter practicability and logic of his instruction. to clarify many points of

Second, I hope

procedure so that t hey may be acquired with greater

Lastly, I propose to include sundry new and original methods and

facility.

These, I trust, , will aid in

practices generally unknown in Erdnase 1 s day. bringing the old cl assic,

11

The Rlcpert of the Card Table 11 thoroughly up to date.

The Il' esent volume will in no simply as a companion volume. reference

be attempted

to

11

The &cpert at

--~that

-------

~~a::r

supersede the Erdnase work.

.Indeed, it cannot be t~e

understood without constant

Therefore, I cannot stress tQ,:»strongly

Card Table".

t he t Ho books

It is intended

shoul d be studied together.

The Erdnase ''ork has often been spoken of as being a textbook on geOllletry or higher mathematics

and too essentially theoretical to be taken seriously.

No greater mistake '-ras ever made.

Erdnase is

at once logical and practical.

Surel y no one, before or since, has written as lucidly on the subject of card table artifice. To me t here is in Erdnaije a timel ess and uni.versal quality ~Tllich the years }lave changed only superficially. stated, a number of

~ternative

Neverthel ess, I have mde bold to add, as above and original

:1\-P:O methods~

procedures.

CARD TABLE ARTIFICE

Under this heading Erdnase stresses the fact that t he real secrets of card table artifice have been held sacro.sanct.

Tnis statement largely holds true today.

Even the ••ell posted magician has little or no knowledge of t he actual uethods .

and dodges employed

~"

by~

con1petent professional 1'mechanics. 11

he know how tbe subterfuges are empl oyed 11under fire."

Even less does

2

Erdnase 1 s discussion of card table artifice should be read tead of t he left band sei:!}ing the

cards

t he left thwnb and second and outer

~

by their s ides as Erdnase directs,

t~ri..rd

fingers grasp the top card by

near l eft corner and it will be found t hat a very slight

movement o! the l eft second f'inger vr.i.ll be sufficient to p:Lv-ot card into palm . THE DOUBLE PALH

This change observed.

b~omes

C~~.!_.

highly practical i f one small cetail is

As the right hand· advances to take the packet for

palminr t he r:tcht thumb must go fuectly to en1of packet and not be

allo•~ed

to assume t he telltale "fishhook" positiono TRANSFORV~TIONSJ

~_l~Dp_

FIRST l{ET I:OD

Instead of holding deck at fingertips it may be held jJ1de:allt;.g

29 position with thumb along the left side and beyond corner.

projec-t~ng

slightly

This effectually conceals t he projecti'On of bottom

card ,rhen pushed for1•Tard.

I f t he hand is ;easah'llbly lllOist

:Lt 5.s pos sible to make t he change by pushing t he card f'crward even leas

than a quarter inch. SECOND ?£ THOD

This me·!;,hod has beer used by top card men hi ghly popular.

and is still

It •ras a great favorite of .Mc;.x lhlini. who

astounded the most observing people vlith his perfect harrlling. Particular attention s hould be given to figure

8.5

of the

Elt'dnase ser hand ( pair of queens) going to the fourth player . A pair of quuens are on top and t he

t\JO

aces below them. Separate

pock for riffle and secretly execute the one card cut .

Rif~1e

cards,

shuffling the top three of left pa cket under top two or rit,ht • ..iquare up. Again divide cards for riffle but eliminate the one

C(l1.'d

out .

Repeat riffle, again shuffling three under two . Again divide cards for riffle shuffling tHo cards under one. For final riffle simply shuffle three on top . These last two operations can be done in one riffle by retaining fiva with the left thumb and allowiing two of thom to fall below top oard of

ri~ht

packet and the other three atop all .

-41-

The formula for any number of hands is determined as foll ows :

,

0

Vl'?\De P~ f)o iN r; /~t-~;:; .::t.r~O c,v-r '' {o¥Lt.~~ e"- -h{;t '~wsent ial we akness of the trick is that it l acks a definite climax or

fini~>h.

its JJrosant;ation to

.,aso it .must be perforrae(l on a tab le which lim.its

a

s :n.all number ~of people .

- 48-

In our version a spectator is invited to

as~ist .

7erforroer holds

a packet of ton cards arranged consecutively from oce to ten , the ace beinP; uppermost . It

Jj) Performer illustrates v;hot he v?ishes done ~vo

by

openly transferring

cards, one by one from too to bottom of packet .

~

J pectator iS

then requested to transfer, in. sil:niliar ..:'ashion , any number fro.m one to ten and as he does

dO

performer turns his back.

Ue will as.;ume that seven cards are transferred .;o takins packet performe r fans cards, remarking, .-It v1ould be quito impos..; ible for me to know the exact number of cards you transferred but watch!" So saying ho secre ·tly obtains a break above the two lowermost cards and squares .

Then he dramatically lifts tho block of eight

cards above break and displays the seven spot on bottom. Before repeating , per forme r must secretly determine the value of bottom card

by

adding number

tho..;e reri'.oining in le ft hand .

o~

cards

~oved

by tipectator (seven) to

This permi ts the trick to be repeated

and we suggest that thtree tilnes is quite sufficient . For the climax , the perfor mer simply recalls the last number transferred and fanning out pa cket he fip-ures ahead to t he eig ht spot and outs it to bottom.

~~:..,

IIe then announces that he will make a

~n

so from the fanned

cards he removes the second card from top {tho ten spot ) and places i t aside in fUll view . ~pectator

again transfers any number of cards devired (thiS time

betv1een one and nine) and top card uill always denote the number tronsferred . · It iS now only necessary to exchange the top card of packet for the one previously set a.:lida .

"\/e personnaly

u::H3

our own switch

involving the •renkai palm (so e the Dai Vernon Book of Magic , Chapter six)

In the present case, of course, tho card must be held face down .

-19-

'rhe s·-;i tch can alSo be mode by the famiL.ar ton or bottom chanc e . 1/ith a sli ·ht adjustnent the Curry 'rurnover can likEmise

be

usee}.

;. FJ::',! TIPo

l\lost cord moves are greatly squared .

f::~cilitated

by havine; tho dock neatly

Normally the deck should be ho l d by tips of loft fingers

and thumb with forefinGer curled against face of pacl(. table

~/i th

deck on

it should be squared as doccribed by E'dnaso in his instructions

for riffle shuffline. ~lhen

v1idening a break i'or insertion of a fint;er avoid lifting upper

packet but lov;er under portion .

wt.,,.... ~} ()Jl..{_

, ,o

4¥\ ulways keep oposite side of pack firm.l y gripped in crotch of thumb thus preventing the two halves from sep3rating or breaking. Otllcrw5.se diffJ.culty will be encountered

in

squa rint: up rerfe ctly. 1/hen holding a break nith little finGer actual breuk should be held

near first j ..)int so that tip of finger is clearly visible.

If this

simple direction is followed it iS i mp ossi ble tor anyone to discern v1hethor or not a break is held. i1~any

an awkward

in pro:>entation.

rflove oDn be made i

lila~o

a by f;;;l ic;ht chanr'e

For exal!lple , a bad t;wo handed pass .may be covered by

a nide svmop of the hands ot same ttme ,rnrnarking,

11

.Jome tbcioians make

quick moves like this bu·l:i ob::;erve I do nothin.