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Since the 1950’s, Coin Magic by J.B. Bobo has been the standard work for magicians who either do, or want to do coin magic. It is an encyclopedic compilation of sleights, tricks and routines by the world’s best coin magicians up till 1966, when the book was last updated.

Magic For Dummies by David Pogue is great if you’re in search of a few new magic tricks and a good chuckle. A lot of ad-lib effects are contained in the book - stuff you can do anywhere with common items. Every chapter has something helpful. There are even replies given for frequent questions like “how did you do that?” and stuff you can say when you flub a trick.

David Ginn has written an instructive handbook, Clown Magic for the clown that wishes to put a touch of magic in his routine. Clown Magic is packed with techniques to unite the comedy and tricks of clowning with the delight of magic. No sleight of hand tricks are involved, the entertainment comes from the delivery and not from the tricks themselves. The book has a large number of photographs and drawings of brilliant tricks and routines using homemade props.

Commended by the Los Angeles Times as “the text that … young magicians swear by,” Mark Wilson’s Complete Course in Magic is filled with step-by-step directions. The knowledge behind 300 skills is supplied by over 2000 illustrations, from basic card tricks to advanced levitation, together with suggestions for planning and staging a professional-quality magic show.

And finally there’s Everybody’s Magic, a compilation of easy-to-do magic tricks from thirty of the best-known magicians in the UK. Sixty stunts and magic tricks have been supplied, all intended for beginners. Even veteran magicians will take pleasure in the book as a lot of of the contributions will take them back to a few of the traditional tricks that got them started in magic in the first place.

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Tags: card tricks, free card tricks, Magic Tricks, street magiccard tricks, free card tricks, Magic Tricks, street magic

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Street magic removes the boundaries from the stereotypical view of magic. There are no stages, no mirrors, no assistants and generally, no over-glorified props and illusions.

Often referred to as naked magic, street magic strips an illusion down to its bare minimum for maximum effect; using everyday objects, a street magician can outstand groups of passers by in a way no other street entertainer can imitate.

With no stage, large illusions or assistants to pay for, the street magician can find himself making a fortune if he has the right attitude, right location and right performance. Typically this involves passing a hat around (known as “the throw”) - magicians such as David Blaine and Paul Zenon have had the luxury of a television career to significantly boost their income, but it is still possible to make a living from street magic without television.

When starting to perform Street Magic, you must realise that the trick is to maximise your audience - stunning them to the extent of silence will not help you, no matter how amazed they are! The key to success is maximising the audience’s participation - use your voice combined with their applause to attract more spectators. This doesn’t mean you have to shout, then perform a miracle - work the audience - warm them up by making them applaud loudly, bring a child onto the street and get her to do something, and then get the audience to applaud loudly, screaming etc. All of this time, people around you will be curious and join the audience. If you go to any street festival, you will find most of the time the performers are warming up the audience to attract more people.

Once you have your audience, you will need to draw them in to prevent them from walking away from you and your hat! Get close to them, allowing people at the back to hear you easier, and to allow for further expansion. Possibly ask all the kids to come and sit at the front (and for some reason, they always want to put money in the hat - parents’ money of course!)

When planning your routine, make sure it is weatherproof to the extremes. A pack of cards won’t stand a chance in the wind, and on one occasion, the famous ‘Zig Zag Lady’ didn’t stand up - a gust of wind blew it and the beautiful assistant over - not the ideal outcome!

Keep the routine to a fairly short time - people will typically be shopping and won’t want to hang around for half an hour while their car parking ticket expires. Once they wonder off, you’ve lost yourself a few pounds.

I saw one incredibly cunning technique for maximising your ‘hat income’ a couple of weeks ago in London. Two magicians asked a little girl to join them and help them with their tricks involving a purse. At the end of that routine, they gave her the

Tags: entertaining, illusion, magic, street, street magic, tricksentertaining, illusion, magic, street, street magic, tricks

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