MY BEST edited by J. G. THOMPSON  (2005 D. Robbins paperback reprint) 

New-old dealer inventory, Mint Condition.  382 pages.    115 contributors, fully indexed with biographies.

It is a simple idea:   ask all the leading magicians of the day to let you publish "their best" trick, collected in a single super-star volume of magic.   That is what JG Thompson did, seventy-five years ago, way back in 1945.    He called it, appropriately enough, "My Best".       And the book has been an important part of magical literature ever since.

In 2005, for the book's 60th anniversary, D. Robbins (who has held the publishing rights since the late 1950's) put out a nicely bound paperback edition.   That's what is for sale here.

There's way too much in here to describe everything, but just looking at the photo of the index pages (2 of the 4 page index), you will no doubt see names you are familiar with, and many you are not familiar with.   But in 1945, these names were all part of the leading edge in magic.  And the tricks that these magicians have contributed live up to the books title.

In addition to completely "new" effects, you will smile as you come across items like The Prize Winner (which was the first version of the more famous effect Premonition), Kolar's Magic Shears (which is a version of the Clippo effect that will fool everyone, even those who know Clippo), George Starke's Hornswoggled (later part of Tannen's Stars of Magic), etc etc etc 

I have always love Heath's Di-Cyphering dice trick, but after learning Verne Chesbro's additions to the trick (outlined in My Best), Di-Cyphering became 10 times better.  (If you don't have Di-Cyphering, check our other listings -- we sell a current version called Calculator Dice)

I could go on and on...  Trust me.  This book is FILLED with great magic.   And after you learn a super strong trick by a magician whom you had never heard of, you can read his biography in the back section of the book.  Knowing magic's history is important, too.

A worthy addition to any serious magic library, and a book that should sell for much, much  more.  

You can still find this book for about $15, so let's price it well below that price.