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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE


The Table of Contents is placed after the Preface.

This book contains illustrations showing some of the tricks described.
The illustrations are available in the HTML version. In this text-only
version they are replaced by the place-holder "[Illustration]", but in
the section "Match Puzzles", some simple ASCII diagrams have been
created to represent the matches when possible.

In the text-only version, italic type is marked _like this_, and bold
face *like this*. Footnotes are represented with uppercase letters in
square brackets.

Two publisher's advertisement pages were placed at the beginning of the
book in the printed edition, in this version they have been moved to the
end, with the other advertisement pages.

A list of changes to the original publication is given at the end.






                            More Conjuring.

                             [Illustration]

                               By HERCAT.




HERCAT'S SIMPLE TRICKS




                             MORE CONJURING

                               BY HERCAT

                  Simple Tricks for Social Gatherings


BY THE AUTHOR OF "LATEST SLEIGHTS AND ILLUSIONS," "HERCAT'S CARD
TRICKS," "CONJURING UP TO DATE," "HERCAT'S VENTRILOQUIST," "HERCAT'S
CHAPEAUGRAPHY, SHADOWGRAPHY, AND PAPER FOLDING," ETC.


  [Illustration: D&S limited]
                      London:
            DEAN & SON, Ltd.,           [Illustration: Hamley's
                        160a,            35, NEW OXFORD STREET,
                Fleet Street,                 LONDON, W.C.]
                         E.C.
                         1912




PREFACE

The title of this little brochure indicates its contents. _Simple
Tricks_ and simple tricks only. No apparatus is required and but little
sleight-of-hand is needed in the performance of any of them. They
consist of a series of tricks and problems, easily acquired, suitable
for gatherings round the table on winter evenings. Some of them are new
and many are old; but even the oldest are new to the rising generation.
For six of the latest tricks,--"A Hindoo Swindle," "The Elusive Match,"
"A Subtle Impromptu Effect with a Coin," "A Novel Card Effect," "An
Artful Card Force," and "Another Easy Card Force,"--I am indebted to my
friend Mr. F. Walford Perry, a thoroughly up-to-date and original young
conjurer. As I have already said, I have included no tricks which
require the exercise of much sleight-of-hand; but even the most simple
trick should be thoroughly practised before you present it to your
friends, especially those tricks which require the assistance of a
confederate. Rehearse everything with him thoroughly beforehand. Even
your "patter" should be rehearsed. But endeavour to lead your audience
to believe that, like "Mr. Wemmick's" marriage, it is all impromptu. He
said, "Hello! here's a church. Let's have a wedding." You say, "Hand me
that serviette ring and I'll show you a trick." If, when the contents of
this little volume have been thoroughly digested, my readers desire to
make a study of more advanced legerdemain, I recommend my _Conjuring Up
to Date_, _Card Tricks with and without Apparatus_, and _Latest Sleights
and Illusions_ to their notice.

For tricks which require apparatus my readers cannot do better than to
send to Messrs. Hamley Bros., Ltd., 35, New Oxford Street, or one of
their branches, for their Magical Catalogue.

_The Daily Telegraph_, in a recent article on "Magic Fifty Years Ago,"
used these words: "Hamleys' were then, as they are now, the premier
manufacturers of magical apparatus." A statement which I cordially
endorse. The apparatus sold by Messrs. Hamley Bros. is invariably
reliable.

In conclusion I beg to offer my readers the following advice:--

Never state the nature of the trick you are about to perform.

Make it a rule never to repeat a trick the same evening unless you have
acquired a different way of showing it. In fact, it is advisable to
learn several methods of presenting the same trick.

Talk as much as possible and make your "patter" lively, but do not try
to be funny unless you are naturally humorous; and, above all, avoid
allusions to politics, religion, or any subject about which there may be
a diversity of opinion among your audience.

HERCAT.




CONTENTS


SIMPLE CARD TRICKS                                                  PAGE

  An Easy Method of Finding a Selected Card                            9
  To Bring a Chosen Card from the Bottom of the Pack at any
                                                Number Requested      10
  A Chosen Card Shaken through a Handkerchief                         10
  A Selected Card found in a Lighted Cigarette                        12
  A Sticking Card                                                     13
  Two Selected Cards Caught in the Air                                13
  An Easy but Puzzling Trick                                          14
  Travelling Cards                                                    14
  To Name all the Cards in the Pack                                   16
  A New Method                                                        16
  The Sense of Touch                                                  17
  Where is the Ace?                                                   18
  To Make a Person Name a Card which You have Yourself Selected       19
  The Clock                                                           21
  How to Guess Cards Thought of                                       22
  An Ingenious Card Trick                                             23
  To Name a Card which Some One has Thought of                        25
  The Rejected Recruits--a Laughable Trick                            26
  A Novel Card Effect                                                 26
  An Artful Card Force                                                28
  Another Easy Card Force                                             28
  A Simple but Puzzling Card Trick                                    29

SIMPLE COIN TRICKS

  How to Detect a Marked Coin                                         30
  A Penetrative Shilling                                              30
  Another Simple Trick                                                31
  A Coin to Disappear from Your Cheek and Reappear at Your Elbow      32
  Two Vanished Half-Crowns                                            33
  A Divination                                                        33
  An Effective but Simple Trick                                       34
  Changing Apple and Coins                                            35
  An Obedient Sixpence                                                36
  Coin and Glass                                                      36
  A Simple Experiment with Four Shillings                             38
  Puzzle of Ten Halfpence                                             39
  How to Increase Your Wealth                                         39
  A Neat Coin Trick                                                   40
  A Subtle Impromptu Effect with a Coin                               41
  An Original Coin Swindle                                            42
  A Cross                                                             43

SIMPLE TRICKS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS, RINGS, CANDLES, ETC.

  A Knot that Cannot be Drawn Tight                                   44
  To Tie an Instantaneous Knot in a Handkerchief                      45
  Half a Burnt Message Found Restored in a Candle                     46
  Two Good Ring Tricks                                                47

SIMPLE ARITHMETICAL PROBLEMS

  To Ascertain a Number Thought of                                    49
  How to Name a Number which has been Erased                          51
  A Lesson in the Correct Formation of a Figure                       52
  Four Nines Problem                                                  53
  An Answer to a Sum Given in Advance                                 53
  An Arithmetical Puzzle                                              54
  An Arithmetical Mystery                                             55
  How to Tell Her Age                                                 55
  A Race in Addition                                                  56
  To Predict the Hour Your Friend Intends to Rise on the
                                               Following Morning      57

MATCH PUZZLES

  Experiment with Ten Matches                                         59
  The Magic Nine                                                      60
  Triangles with Matches                                              61
  Match Squares                                                       61
  Your Opponent must Take the Last Match                              62
  A Shakespearean Quotation                                           63
  Numeral                                                             63
  Six and Five Make Nine                                              63
  The Artful Schoolboys                                               64
  What are Matches Made of?                                           66
  A Sheep Pen                                                         66
  Post and Rail Puzzle                                                67

SIMPLE MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS

  A Good After-Dinner Trick                                           68
  To Remove a Serviette Ring from a Tape Held on the Thumbs of
                                                  Another Person      70
  An Experiment in Gravity                                            71
  A Scissors Feat                                                     71
  Another Trick with a Pair of Scissors                               72
  An Indestructible Cigarette Paper                                   73
  To Cut an Apple in Two with Your Finger                             74
  A Trick with Dominoes                                               74
  An Escape                                                           75
  Cigarette Papers and Serviettes                                     76
  Four Cigarette Papers                                               77
  A Hindoo Swindle                                                    77
  The Elusive Match--a Capital Impromptu Trick                        79




SIMPLE CARD TRICKS


AN EASY METHOD OF FINDING A SELECTED CARD

Throw the pack on the table and request some one to select a card. Then
gather up the rest of the cards and request your friend to show his card
to his neighbour, to avoid mistakes. While this is being done bend the
pack slightly while pretending to shuffle it, and cause the card to be
returned and the pack shuffled. The selected card can then be easily
detected among the bent cards by its being perfectly straight. A good
way to finish the trick is to bring the card to the top of the pack and
cause it to project about an inch over the right side; cover the front
end of the pack with your four fingers so that the edge of the
projecting card is concealed, and, with your thumb at the other end,
hold the pack firmly about eighteen inches above the table. Request the
person who drew the card to call it by name. On this being done, drop
the pack on the table, when the projecting card will be completely
turned over by the air in its descent and lie perfectly square on the
top of the pack. Another good finish is to bring the chosen card to the
bottom of the pack, and requesting the person who selected it to hold
the pack by pinching it tightly between his finger and thumb close to
the corner, you give the pack a sharp rap, when all the cards will fall
excepting the one chosen.


TO BRING A CHOSEN CARD FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE PACK AT ANY NUMBER
REQUESTED

Ask a member of the company to take a card, look at it, and return it to
the pack. Make the "pass" (_Hercat's Card Tricks_, p. 7); "palm" the
card (_Card Tricks_, p. 18) and hand the pack to be shuffled. While this
is being done transfer the palmed card to your left hand, and on
receiving the pack back, place it over the concealed card, and tell the
company you will produce the latter from the bottom of the pack at