THE ROYAL ROAD TO CARD MAGIC  -- written by Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue

1979 9th printing, published by FABER & FABER.  Hardback  

Part of the fun of being a magic seller is that I get the chance to re-discover tricks and books that I had not thought much about for many years.    This happened again when I came across this 1970's reprint of the classic Hugard and Braue book -- this prompted me to go pull my own copy of Royal Road off the shelf and re-study its contents.     (I advise this for anyone who already owns the book, since most magicians get this book fairly early in their magical life, and upon re-reading it with much more experienced eyes, you will discover all kinds of great tips and info that you overlooked as a beginner!)

For those who don't have this book in you library, all I can say is:  you should have it, if you have any interest in card magic at all.  If you are a beginner, this book is structured to teach you card technique and effects in a logical stepped progression (hence, taking you along the Royal Road).  Early chapters cover very basic techniques, and each subsequent chapter takes you another mile down the Royal Road, giving you another (more advanced) technique.   (Take a look at the photos of the Contents, and you will see this progression clearly.  You will also see how much info Hugard and Braue cover!)

I noticed in my re-read of this book, that I found a lot of great info in the early chapters -- I think when I read this book the first time, I must have skipped a head, because i figured I knew everything about an Overhand Shuffle (Chapter 1) -- reading it this time, I found an incredibly useful card double card control in this chapter, which I am willing to bet most magicians also missed when they read it the first time.

Each technique covered on the Road is also accompanied with a few effects to which the technique can be applied.  This cements the learning and also puts it into practice and performance.

FABER & FABER reprinted this book about FOUR times during the great TV magic "boom" that took hold iin the late 1960's and ran through the next decade.  Then Faber sold the rights to Dover to produce the book in paperback.    It has been subsequently reprinted in hardcover by US-company, D. Robbins, but this nice 1979 example of the Faber edition (hardcover, with dust jacket ) is a great addition to any magic book collector's library.   A nice upgrade if you only have a later edition of this important text).

If you do not own any edition of Royal Road, here is your chance to get an original Faber hardcover edition at a great price -- whether you are new to card magic, or have been doing it for years.    You will enjoy and learn a lot from this book.

I see similar editions from the 1970's selling for $35-$49, but you can get one here for LESS!