The Black Art, or Magic Made Easy

A pocket conjuring booklet from 1869 New York: sleight-of-hand tricks with cards and coins, explained plainly for beginners, along with simple experiments in chemistry, magnetism and fireworks.

What’s inside

1. Card sleights — making the pass, forcing a card
2. Tricks with cards — the knaves and the constable, the card in the glass, the card burned and found in a watch
3. Arithmetical card tricks — naming drawn cards, the circle of fourteen cards, a card thought of
4. Experiments by chemistry — fire from water, the fiery flash, luminous writing, red and green fire
5. Fire and fireworks — fireproof paper, the tobacco-pipe cannon, an artificial earthquake
6. Tricks with coins — a coin that sticks to the wall, multiplying and vanishing coins

Anonymous, 1869 · Frederic A. Brady. Complete 84-page PDF. Free to download: check out at $0 and the file arrives by email and on your order page.

This classic is in the public domain. Scans come from library copies, so expect the odd stain or stamp of an old book.