Description

Describes classics such as the cups and balls, gypsy thread, ball vase, and various popular card and coin tricks still performed today. Learn how to make a shiner from a coin and a drop of water or beer, how to make a double-faced coin, how to eat fire, and other tricks and stunts. A book like this reminds us how old magic really is. We think that the latest and ‘newest’ trick being hyped and hawked online is indeed new, when in fact it is far from new and often is based on ideas and methods hundreds of years old.

Clearly, Henry Dean was a magic dealer because several times he advertises his wares, such as

“…if any person wants to be furnished with these blowing books, they may have them at my shop on Little-tower-hill…

He even offered himself as an instructor in the magic arts:

Any person that is desirous to learn any part of this art, they may be taught by me. – H. Dean.

The Preface To The ReaderA Description of the OperationHow to pass the Balls through the CupsThe Operation of the Cups is thusHow to shew the wonderful Magic LanthornTo seem to swallow a long pudding made of tinTo seem to eat knives and forksTo put a lock upon a man’s mouthHow to shew the magic bell and bushelHow to put a ring through one’s cheekHow to shew the Hen and Egg-bag, and out of an empty bag to bring out above an hundred eggs, and afterward, to bring out a living henHow to cut the blowing bookTo shew the trick with the FunnelHow to make three little children dance in a glass upon a tableBonus Genius: or Hiccius DoctiusOf conveyance of MoneyTo convey money out of one of your hands into the other by LegerdemainTo convert money into counters, and counter into moneyTo put one tester into one hand, another into the other hand, and with words to bring them togetherTo put one tester into a stranger’s hand, and another into your own, and to convey both in to the stranger’s hand with wordsHow to shew the same, or the like feat otherwiseTo throw a piece of money away, and to find it again where you left itHow to make a groat or tester to leap out of a pot, or run along upon a tableTo make a groat or a tester to sink through a table, and to vanish out of a handkerchief strangelyA notable trick to transform a counter to a groatAn elegant feat to make a two-penny piece be plain in the palm of your hand, and be passed from thence where you listTo convey a tester out of one’s hand that holds it fastTo convey a shilling, being in one hand, into another, holding your hands abroadTo transform any small thing into any other form by folding paperAnother experiment of the like natureOf cards, with good caution how to avoid cozenage therein, especially rules to convey and handle the cards, and the manner and order how to accomplish all difficulties and strange things wrought with cardsHow to deliver out four aces, and to convert them into four knavesHow to tell one what card he seeth at the bottoms when the card is shuffled in the stockAnother way to do the same, having yourself never seen the cardsTo tell without confederacy, what card he thinketh onHow to make a card jump out of the pack, and run on the tableHow to tell what card any man thinketh on, and how to convey the same into a kernel of a nut or cherry stone, and the same again into one’s pocket; and how to make him draw the same, or any card you please, and all under one deviceHow to let twenty gentlemen draw twenty cards, and to make one card every man’s cardHow to change a pack of cards into all manner of picturesHow to knit a knot upon a handkerchief, and to undo the same with wordsHow to take three button moulds off two stringsTo cure the tooth-achTo know if it be a head, or woman, and the party to stand in another roomFortunatus’ wishing post, or how to make any person dance nakedTo seem to cut a hole in a cloak, scarf, or handkerchief, and with words to make it whole againThe Egg Box is looked upon to be as good a trick and as cunning a slight, as any that is done, but because it cannot be expressed in words, I have put these figures underneath to explain it.To make a room seem to be all on fire, mighty dreadful to beholdHow to eat fire, and to blow it up in your mouth with a pair of bellowsHow to walk on a hot iron bar, without danger of scalding or burningHow to make a knife leap out of a potThe melting-boxHow to light a candle by a glass of cold water, or other liquor, without the help of fireA trick upon the globe-boxTo tell the names of all cards in the pack, before you see themHow to hold four kings in the hand, and by words to seem to transform them into four aces, and afterwards to make them all blank cardsTo tell or name all the cards in the pack, and yet never see themTo shew one what card he taketh notice ofTo tell the number of spots on the bottom cards, laid down on several heapsTo make any two cards come together, which any body shall nameHow to make a cat draw a fellow through a pond of waterHow to burn a thread, and to make it whole again with the ashesTo cut a lace asunder in the middle, and to make it whole againHow to pull innumerable ribbons out of your mouth, of what colour you pleaseTo draw a cord through your nose, mouth, or head, so sensible, as it is wonderful to see.To thrust a bodkin into your forehead without hurtHow to thrust a bodkin through your tongueHow to cut your arm off, a pitiful sight, without hurt or dangerHow to kill any fowl, but especially a pullet, and with words to give it life againTo thrust a piece of lead into your eye, and to drive it about with a stick between the skin and flesh and forehead, until it be brought to the other eye, and there thrust outTo make the constable catch the knaveTo seem to change a card into a king or queen pictureTo seem to turn a card into a live birdThree or four cards being laid down, to tell any one which of those cards he touchedTo tell one what card he took notice ofHow to let a gentleman hold ten pieces of money in his hand, and to command them unto what number he can think onTo thrust a dagger into your guts, very strangely, and to recover immediatelyHow to cut a man’s head off, and to put the head into a platter, a yard from his bodyTo seem to turn water into wineTo make sport with an eggTo fetch a shilling out of a handkerchiefTo cause the beer you drink, to be wrung out of the handle of a knifeHow to make it freeze by the fire-sideTo cut glass, a famous inventionHow to make two bells come into one hand, having put into each hand oneHow to make a sheet of paper called Trouble-witTo make sport in companyHow to command seven half-pence through a tableHow to turn a box of bird-seed into a living birdHow to command a sixpence out of a boxHow to call for any card in the packAnother way to call for a cardTo tell one what card any one thinketh onAnother way to tell one what card is notedHow to make a card jump out of an eggHow to make the fountain of commandTo seem to kill a horse, and to cure him againA very strange trick, whereby you may seem to cut a piece of tape into four parts, and make it whole again with wordsA device to multiply one face, and make it seem to be a hundred or a thousandTo make the fulminating thundering powder

1st edition 1722, 11th edition 1795, 106 pages; this digital edition is based on the 11th edition; PDF 59 pages.
word count: 24099 which is equivalent to 96 standard pages of text