BOOK REVIEW: TWO BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ

I recently sat down for a morning reading Sharps and Flats by John Nevil Maskelyne. This book is a must read for anyone who considers themselves serious about cards. It is a classic text, first published in 1894, and is generally at the top of the 'must have' list for enthusiasts and collectors. It is a difficult (at least pricey) book to come by, but if you have the opportunity to sit there with an original copy, don't turn it down. By chance I also had sitting in front of me the Memoirs of Robert Houdin, France's greatest conjuror. At the time of sitting down with my mornings selections I did not realise how the two books were linked. With two books of this kind one can expect to be fascinated, but the link between the books, although not exactly obscure knowledge, was a surprise to me at the time and made for the most exciting morning of reading I have ever had. In retrospect I may have read about their connection before, but to be sitting down with only these two very old books, and to have found them both together in the first place, was sheer coincidence. I imagine the basic connection has been discussed many times before in the world of cheating and magic historians, but to stumble unintentionally upon this was a thrill for me and is worth sharing with those yet to read both books. I had opted to begin with Sharps and Flats and was reading through the chapter on holdouts. Thankfully I also had my camera to take some photographs which you may enjoy here. It's page 76 of Sharps and Flats. I am reading... "The earliest account we have in the holdout line is the cuff box described by Houdin." I straightened up.

Sharps and Flats, John Nevil Maskelyne

I look up from the page and in front of myself see this.

Memoirs of Robert HoudinI continue reading the passage below...

Reference to Houdin's memoirs

And soon I found myself transported back in time by Houdin's account of Torrini and Zilbermann. The death bed confession of a cheat shot in his chest using a holdout during his final card game, and asking his friend to remove the device to protect his family and equally his reptutation.

Houdin, Torrini & Zilbermann There is slightly more to the story of my morning spent reading, which involved one other book (I sat down with 3 books), which also had an unexpected small connection to the Zilbermann game. Now here is my special gift to you..... both books can be read, legitimately, and downloaded (both legally and ethically) at gutenberg.org. You won't get to feel the old covers, turn their old dusty pages, and smell the history, but it's the bext best thing. As I said at the start of this post, if you ever have the opportunity to sit with either of these books in their original printed form, do yourself the favour. If you can sit there with them both you may, as I did, feel like the luckiest person in the world.