Magical Masterpieces, from the Author of The Nikola Card System

Originally published in 1934, Magical Masterpieces was written by Louis Nikola, a renowned magician who was most noted for "The Nikola Card System". Magical Masterpieces is not limited to card tricks: its contents range from subtle sleight-of-hand tricks without visible appliances to elaborate mechanical devices of extreme intricacy and some entirely new suggestions in the way of self-contained illusions.

Magical Masterpieces is not a book for idle reading alone, although even as such it is an entertainment in itself. It is a book for reading and reading again and oft repeated reference. It is a store-house of ideas to be placed in the magician's library and taken out from time to time for reference. Today he may find something for immediate addition to his programme. A year hence, two years hence, many years hence, he may still find something new. If he reads between the lines, he will not only absorb new ideas, he will learn something of the writer's secret of developing ideas and acquire habits of thought that will enable him to do likewise.

Contents Covered:

• Introduction
• The Disappearing Cloak
• A Disappearing Walking Stick
• Fire and Water
• Catching a Card on a Knife Point
• A Treacle Trick
• Card Cricket
• Magic Photography
• A Transforming Card Table
• Dyeing Silks
• "Bunglo"
• Dyeing Silks Ne Plus Ultra
• The Great Lemon
• A Ring and an Orange
• A Ring and a Dove
• With a Watch
• The Nest of Boxes
• A New Method in the Smoke Trick
• The Incorrigible Cigars
• A Super Rice Bowls Trick
• How I Saw the Great Indian Rope Trick
• The Truth? About the Indian Rope Trick
• Transit of Wine
• The Recipe for Diamonds
• Off with His Head
• An Extemporised Drum Production
• Another Drum Load
• Optical Delusion
• The Power of Suggestion
• A Message from Mars
• Marvellous Addition
• A Magic Spell
• Reading by Touch
• Patriotic Drill
• Flying Colours
• On the Line
• Transposing Milk and Sugar
• The Topsy Turvy Tea Table
• Under the Pillar Box
• Tricky Tennis
• Aerial Angling
• Hoffmann's Bullet Trick
• The Feast of Lanterns
• The Junior Feast of Lanterns
• The Housing Problem
• The Rajah's Pearls
• Aqua Vitae
• Squeezed to a Jelly
• What Happened to Smith Minor