Royal Road to Card Magic The

credit for a skill that you then confess you do not possess!
Use misdirection to help you conceal the vital sleight or subtlety employed in a trick. Misdirection is simply the diversion of the audience's attention during the moments when a sleight or subtlety is used. Let us say, for instance, that you must make use of the sleight known as the pass in the course of a trick. You can divert attention from your hands by addressing a remark to someone, at the same time glancing at him; all eyes will turn to the person you have addressed as he makes his response. You can divert attention by requesting someone to hand you a nearby object, which has the same effect of turning everyone's gaze, for an instant, towards the object; and in that instant you perform your secret sleight. You can divert attention by having someone show to others a card which he holds; as everyone glances at it, you perform the necessary sleight.
Know what your patter will be for a given trick. Not only will your patter help in entertaining your audience, but also it aids in concealing the modus operandi of the feat. Since a certain amount of a person's powers of concentration must be devoted to assimilating that which you say, that person cannot analyse quite so clearly that which you do.
    Finally, we should mention that we have not included the more recondite and difficult card sleights, which in any event are performed well only by a few top-flight card experts. Later, when you have learned all that we have given in this book, you may, if you like, progress to these sleights. For the time being we urge you to confine your knowledge of card magic to this book, learning how to do, and how to perform, the fine tricks that we give.
    We have talked to you long enough: you are impatient to savour the good things to come. To you we say
'Bon Voyage!'
as we stand aside to let you start your journey up the royal road to card magic!
    Jean Hugard
Frederick Braue

CHAPTER 1

The Overhand Shuffle (1)

    It is our intention to show you the royal road to card magic, and the first stage of our journey is to instruct you in the use of the overhand shuffle and to explain the many purposes that it serves.
    Anyone who plays cards has learned to execute the overhand shuffle. It is a simple operation, yet it is the first step - and a very important one - on the road to the mystery of card magic. It is essential that you master this first step before continuing on your journey, and for this reason we urge you to learn the various shuffles and perform the many fine tricks that they make possible before you pass on to the other sections.
    Each succeeding chapter in this book, except the last, leads to the one that follows and supplements the one that preceded. By resisting the impulse to learn everything at once but by practising each step as you go, you will, with a speed that will amaze you, soon have travelled the entire road. When finally in that way you have reached its end, you will be a far more competent card conjurer than will the more impatient reader.
    With this final word of caution, we now start you on your pleasant journey.
    Position of the Pack in the Hands
    It is essential that the cards are handled neatly and precisely, and the first requisite towards acquiring this neatness of execution is the position of the pack in the hands.
1. Hold your left hand half closed, palm upwards, and place the pack in it, face downwards so that the third phalanx of the index finger is bent against the outer left corner. The middle and ring fingers, slightly bent rest against the face of the bottom card; the little finger curls inwards so that its side rests against the inner end, and the thumb rests on the top card, its tip near the middle of the outer end.
    The pack should slope downwards towards the left at an angle of about 45 degrees, its lower side resting along the palm of the hand. In this position the pack can be gripped, as in forceps, between the index and the little fingers by pressing them against the opposite ends (figure 1).

    This position of the pack gives one perfect control of the cards and should be strictly adhered to. The grip should be firm but light; in fact, the lightest touch possible, consistent with security, must be cultivated from the outset.
    Execution of the Overhand Shuffle
Holding the pack as described above, seize the lower half with the right hand between the top phalanx of the thumb, at the middle of the inner end, and the top phalanxes of