Card Devilry

J.K. Hartman is back again with 60 brand-new effects in his latest book, Card Devilry. We invite you to revel in the wicked fun and mischief of these clever effects.

Known for short, clever routines, this prolific magician has long  been a mainstay in the libraries of card magicians, and this new volume  should not be the exception. Hartman once again brings his signature  style and clarity to new effects that you’ll soon be testing on  spectators. Included are sections on impromptu card magic, stacked  effects, mental magic, and gaffed effects. In addition, Hartman provides  new utility moves that you’ll likely be incorporating into your  existing routines.

Review from straighttalkmagicreviews.com :

Card Devilry is J.K. Hartman’s 14th (and perhaps final)  card magic book in which he teaches a significant amount, both in terms  of quality and quantity.  At $35, this book is a steal.  It is published  by Vanishing Inc., designed by its’ co-founder Andi Gladwin,  illustrated by Tony Dunn and proofread by several others including  Vanishing Inc. co-founder, Joshua Jay.

The book itself is a high quality product with heavy paper stock and a  quality hard cover. The book measures 6 by 9 inches and is 280 pages  long.  Between the covers it boasts 60 tricks, each with many  beautifully hand-drawn illustrations (over 350 in the book) to accompany  the explanatory text.

The Card Devilry is broken up into 5 chapters; Handiworks, Heavy  Mental, Stacked and Stunning, Gaffed by Half, and Spirited Moves. The  various chapters teach tricks that can be done impromptu and some that  require a set-up with a stacked deck.  Some of the tricks are hybrid  card magic/mentalism effect (see Heavy Mental) and others used gaffed  cards as I am sure you can tell from the chapter names.  The final  chapter teaches fives moves for he cardician.

This book is not for beginners or for those looking for self-working  card tricks the likes of which you can find in any John Bannon  publication (there is a Bannon take on a Chris Mayhew trick inside the  pages. See Trap and Trade. And also a take on a Bannon trick, Perfect  Strangers, called Strange But Perfect).  This is a book for students of  card magic and those that enjoy employing sleight of hand.  In fact, as  Hartman explains in the Introduction, he assumes that you already know  several moves that are needed for the various tricks as he wrote “The  book assumes a knowledge of standard sleights (among the Half Pass which  is used extensively), although more specialized moves are explained in  full, perhaps excessively so.”  Hartman has a listing of “Sleight  Described in Context” which list the various sleights and the tricks  they are used in i.e. All-around Square-up, Braue Reversal, Cut Pass,  Drop Half Pass, Indicator Force, Jordan Count Substitute, Push-In Change  Finesse, Transfer Glimpse and Zarrow Block Addition to name just a few.

Many of the tricks reference other magician’s for inspiration or  foundation such as Dai Vernon, Marlo, Jennings, Dr. Daley, Jerry  Mentzer, Paul Curry and many others. Some of the tricks are improvement  on earlier published tricks and some of the effects use a similar method  but are tweaked for different performances.

I believe that to get the most out of this book you will need months  to read, review and digest all the fantastic material contained in the  short chapters. Each trick does not take long to read, most being  described and explained in only a few short pages with illustrations.   There is so much to learn and so little time to learn it in.

This book is a gift to the magic community and for those seeking to expand their horizons.