As a young teenager, I bought my copy of The Amateur Magician's Handbook soon after it was published in 1950. In those days, I did magic shows for schools, churches, lodges, and children's parties. I was always on the lookout for affordable tricks that I could add to my act. This book was a godsend.

Part One of the book deals with hand magic using cards, coins, balls, thimbles, and cigarettes. Part Two deals with mentalism, or what Hay called "Head Magic." Part Three deals with apparatus magic. Besides the standard stuff, Hay writes about silks, small gimmicks, and fakes, such as, thumb tips, pulls, and hooks. Part Four is devoted to the mental magic of Ted Annemann (1907-1942), who was famous for inventing and refining many of the standard mentalism routines that continue to be used by magicians today. See Practical Mental Magic (1983) by Theodore Annemann. Part Five deals with the prerequisites of platform magic: programming, stage management, and showmanship.

My Favorite Chapter. For my own act, I especially took account of Chapter 17, "Standard Stuff," that describes the platform apparatus that belonged in every platform magician's trunk in the 1950s: (1) Cut and Restored Rope; (2) The Egg Bag; (3) The Passe-Passe Bottle and Glass; (4) Liquid Tricks, such as, The Lota, The Rice Bowls, The Funnel, and The Ching Ling Foo Water Can; (5) Productions, such as, Hat Productions, The Tambourine, The Carpet of Baghdad, The Jap Hank Box, and The Organ Pipes; (6) The Chinese Wands; and (7) The Linking Rings. Over time, I was able to include selections from each of these "standards" in my repertory. For example, The Cut and Restored Rope, The Egg Bag, The Lota, The Rice Bowls, The Funnel, The Jap Hank Box, The Chinese Wands, and the Linking Rings all became regular features in my magic act.

The glossary at the end of the Amateur Magician's Handbook is as practical as the body of the book. More than an alphabetical list of technical terms, Hay took advantage of his glossary to explain several tricks and illusions not mentioned elsewhere in his book. For example, the glossary tells about the Changing Bag, the Dancing Handkerchief (the Dancing Handkerchief was the showpiece of Harry Blackstone's act, about which see Chapter 19 in Big Secrets (1989) by William Poundstone for an exposé of the Dancing Handkerchief in a Bottle, David Copperfield's version of Blackstone's Dancing Handkerchief), the Sliding Die Box, Flash Paper, Levitations, the Mirror Principle, the Needle Trick (a cornerstone in Harry Houdini's act in which he appeared to swallow dozens of needles, followed by a length of thread, finally regurgitating them with all the needles neatly threaded), Running Gags, Sawing a Woman in Two, Spring Flowers, Sucker Effects, Substitution Trunk Trick, and You Do as I Do.

My Favorite Quote. "Always leave everybody wanting more."

Trivia. Henry Hay was the pen name of June Barrows Mussey.

Bottom Line. This book is a keeper. ( )

A lavishly illustrated new edition of the classic handbook for conjurers is designed to help magicians of all levels, from beginning to advanced, hone their skills at legerdemain and develop new and exciting illusions to baffle the mind. This book helps you prove that the hand is quicker than the eye, and that the ingenuity of a master magician can defy the most suspicious scrutiny. ( )

I've got an old paperback copy of this that has been one of my best friends for a long time. I had this book long before I ever picked up a copy of Wilson's bigger, more comprehensive, and more workmanlike 'Complete Course in Magic'.
I love Hay's approach to magic. He doesn't just tell you 'how', he tells you 'why'. Read this book if you want to develop the attitude of a real magician.
Hay covers all kinds of magic: cards, coins, silks, and what have you. It's an excellent first magic book. And it's cheap. ( )