Dear friend,
The Royal Road to Card Magic is a very special magic book.
It is arguably the most important book on card magic ever written. It’s the book that many of the world’s greatest magicians started their magic journey with—but whether you’re a beginner or not, it’s full of practical and timeless magic!
This book isn’t just a collection of tricks; it’s a comprehensive course in card magic. From foundational techniques to advanced maneuvers, it guides you step-by-step through the art of card manipulation. Each chapter builds upon the last, ensuring a solid grasp of every concept.
What sets The Royal Road to Card Magic apart is its approachable style and thorough explanations. The authors, Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue, are legends in the magic world, and their expertise shines on every page. They don’t just teach you tricks; they teach you everything about card magic!
Just read it.
You’ll soon discover why it’s often the first recommendation for anyone serious about learning card magic.
Click HERE to get your copy of The Royal Road to Card Magic, in our FREE 24 Classic Magic Book Collection!
The Royal Road to Card Magic: The Best Card Trick Book EVER?
Want 24 FREE classic magic books, including this one? CLICK HERE
Want 368 dusty moth-eaten magic books (30,000+ pages of content, 91 professional commentaries, an extensively detailed index with 4429 effects, authors featuring, Houdini, Erdanase, Tarbell, and Hugard) CLICK HERE
Want 138 Classic Magic Tricks (36 hours of video, 1,000’s of hours work, hidden gems from Vernon, Annemann, Cardini, Erdnase, Hugard, Thurston and more…)? Click HERE
Difficulty: Beginner (although children may need help)
Rating: 4/5
The Royal Road To Card Magic is one of the most popular card trick books for beginners; and that’s for a reason. It is an easy to understand book that walks you through classic tricks and sleights.
The great thing about this book is that it doesn’t just teach you moves, but how to actually use these moves in tricks. So you’ll receive training on the different shuffles, controls and all kinds of sleights PLUS how to use them in over a HUNDRED different tricks.
This book was published originally in 1949! It has been updated since then but if you’re intimidated by the old-fashioned writing style feel free to go for a more ‘modern’ book on this list.
The important thing is that the actual card tricks and techniques taught are JUST as relevant and useful now as back in 1949. If anything, it’s a testimonial to the book that it has managed to remain a classic over the years.
I know this is what many magicians recommend to people starting out in card magic, so it is definitely a safe bet. You might not be blown away but you will 100% find some tricks you can learn and enjoy.
Don’t just take our word for it.
Here are some testimonials…
“Best book about learning card magic ever.
For learning card magic, this book is simply the best. I’ve studied it for about 40 years. All the necessary sleights for card magic are explained. (False deals excluded). The tricks that are explained are very good. If you can’t learn to entertain an audience with card magic with the material from this book, try another hobby.” – S. Aldrich
“The number one resource for learning card technique.
Highly recommend. The number one go to book for learning card magic technique. If followed in order, one will have enough material to build an impressive routine at the end of the book, though Each section teaches technique then tricks with those learned techniques to apply and lock that learned technique in to memory for future tricks.
There’s a reason this book is the number one mentioned book for learning card magic. The material within its pages will do one well as you progress. The key with this book as well as any other is Practice.
But even though this was written in the 50’s it is still THE BEST starting point to learn.
Get this book, you will not regret it.” – Sam Kelly
You can actually find a physical copy for an absolute steal on Amazon. If you’re happy to buy used, you can go as low as a few dollars.
Respect your elders…
Today, we want to pay homage to Jean Hugard and his counterpart Frederick Braue.
Also promoted:
Last black friday we released a VIDEO collection of 138 of the BEST tricks from our library of 368 classic magic books.
https://thedailymagician.thrivecart.com/classic-magic-book-collection-new/
First, we spent hours upon hours pouring over these books, sifting through the material, and finding the very best ‘hidden gems’. Next, we spent nearly two weeks practically living in our studio, filming high quality videos going over each of these tricks and making them as EASY to understand as possible.
We’ve taken these tricks, added our own modernizations, touches, alternate handlings and most importantly brought them into the modern age in the form of video.
We’ve also made sure the original excerpts are right below the video because reading and watching can create an even better experience!
Want to learn more?
Click here:
https://thedailymagician.thrivecart.com/138-classic-effects/
Otherwise, let’s get started…
Jean Hugard was an Australian magician who moved to America and rose to become of the great stage magicians of his time, known as the ‘Dean of Magicians’.
Frederick Braue was an American journalist and master card magician who co-authored several of the most important books in magic with Jean Hugard, from Expert Card Technique to The Royal Road to Card Magic.
Throughout the course of our project, we learned a LOT about magic by reading both their practical methods and theoretical insights.
Here are just a few insights we gained…
1: Respect your elders!
Jean Hugard was a big fan of Robert Houdin and it really shows in his work. He is quick to credit Robert Houdin with ideas and methods, and even wrote a book defending his honour when his reputation was called into question.
We hope that our project pays homage to Hugard in much the same way his work paid homage to his predecessors.
2: The power of simple techniques
When they wrote the Royal Road to Card Magic, Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue intended it to be a book accessible to anyone, no matter their previous level of sleight of hand experience.
As a result, they needed to generate a number of effects that leveraged very simple principles but were still incredibly fooling.
Reading their work, it’s astonishing how much mileage they’re able to get out of some of the most basic principles in card magic.
(for example, #137 in our project is a routine that uses perhaps the most basic move in card magic but instantly became one of our new favorite tricks. The spectator chooses a card, and several other spectators deal packets of cards to the table. When the card is revealed, it matches the bottom cards of the packets dealt by the spectators. We also added a few ‘bonus’ ideas to this one that we think you’ll like.)
3: The power of incremental learning
As we just mentioned, these authors knew that they needed to start their work with effects that were universally accessible.
On the other hand, by the later end of their work, they’re describing incredibly complex multi-phase routines that utilise some of the more challenging moves in magic.
(for example, #30 in our project is a very complex ‘cards to pocket’ routine that involves a lot of palming and is structured in a very clever way so that your audience will SEE your hand empty before you produce many of the cards)
But Hugard and Braue understand the power of incremental learning—taking one concept and mastering it, and then building the next one on top of that. Because they take magicians through these ideas one technique at a time, it never feels overwhelming.
On the whole, we were blown away by the quality of Hugard and Braue’s work.
Most magicians are very familiar with The Royal Road to Card Magic, but we’ve also delved deep into other publications that many of you may not have heard of to compile the effects for a project we’ve been working on.
We also added our own handling to many of their classics and produced them all as high quality video tutorials.
If you’d like to learn more about the project, click the link below…
Click here:
https://thedailymagician.thrivecart.com/138-classic-effects/
A Brief Taster of Royal Road To Card Magic
“No other sleight will give you as much pleasure as this…”
According to Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue, “there is no other sleight in all conjuring with cards which will give you so much pleasure as this.”
The top change, as the name suggests, is a simple way to switch a card you’re holding with the card on top of the deck.
Here’s the explanation given in the Royal Road to Card Magic for the top change…
(NOTE: This email is a long one. We considered cutting down the explanation to make the email shorter, but the following explanation is valuable precisely because it goes into such detail on the mechanics of this move. We hope you find it useful!)
To exchange one card for another boldly and under the very noses of those who watch, without being detected, is a sweet triumph!
Let us say that you are going to exchange secretly a card held in the right hand for the one at the top of the pack, which is held in the left hand, as for dealing, but with the index finger resting at the outer end.
1: Hold the card in the right hand, at its inner right corner, between the outermost phalanges of the middle finger and the thumb. Place the index finger lightly alongside the middle finger, but do not hold the card with it. The other fingers are free (Fig. 110).
2: Move the right hand to the left hand and slide its card under the left thumb flush on to the pack. The left index finger at the outer end prevents the card from overlapping. Do not draw it on to the pack with the left thumb.
3: Simultaneously with the preceding action, and as the right hand approaches, push the top card of the pack over its side to the right for about an inch, then lift the thumb a little so that the right hand can slide its card under it. Do not push off the top card before the right hand begins its swing to the left.
Although we have described the actions in steps Nos. 2 and 3 as separate processes, we have done this only for clarity. Actually the left thumb pushes the top card to the right as the right hand approaches and slides its card under the thumb and onto the pack.
4: Grasp the inner right corner of the card pushed off the pack between the right index finger and thumb (Fig. 111). Hold the right hand motionless with the card, and move the left hand and the pack away to the left. The right hand must not move away to the right.
The hands should be held well away from the body, and the action should be easy and natural and should be explained by a subsequent action.
For instance, you show the card held by the right hand and lower it so that it is about a foot away from the left hand and the pack, but on the same level. Glance to the left, at a table or a chair; look back at your audience, saying, “I will put the card on the chair.” Turn your body to the left toward the chair and as you do this move the right hand toward the left a little faster than the left hand moves.
The two hands meet at the middle of the turn and exchange the cards without the least hesitation. Move the left hand with the pack backwards and away, perhaps grasping the rail of the chair, as you face left and drop the card the right hand now holds on the chair seat.
Again, you may hold the hands a foot apart and speak to someone on your right, turning a little toward him. “I shall ask this gentleman on my left to blow upon the card,” you say, at the same time turning toward your left, executing the change as the hands meet. Hold the right hand motionless, and move the left hand with the pack outwards to the left, gesturing to the person to whom you refer.
Still again, when you are doing close-up card magic, you may show a card in your right hand, then lower it so that it is horizontal. Say to someone, “Will you hold your hand palm upwards?” and, when he raises his right hand, move the right hand to it as though to place the card on his palm. Apparently change your mind, saying, “We’d better use your other hand,” and at this moment glance up to meet his gaze. Bring the right hand to the left, exchange the cards, and move the left hand away a little. A moment later, when you place the changed card on the spectator’s palm, he is unaware that it is not the card you showed a moment before.
The entire process of the top change is a smooth and natural blending of actions, and we need not tell you that to look at your hands would be fatal. You must look at the audience or at the object on which you will place the card.
The top change is a simple technique but has a near infinite amount of uses.
In card magic, learning a single technique like this can suddenly open up a whole new host of effects and routines!
The very first card trick we learned…
We’re about to share one of the ‘oldest tricks in the book’ and why it’s so powerful.
One of the most important principles in card magic is the ‘glide’—it also happens to be the sleight in the first card trick we ever learned.
Here’s how the move is taught in the Royal Road to Card Magic: “The basic action of the glide is this:
1. Hold a pack of cards face downwards in the left hand–the thumb at one side, the fingers at the other–its outer side pressing against the middle phalanx of the index finger, near the outer left corner, and the first (innermost) phalanx of the little finger. Rest the tip of the ring finger lightly against the middle of the face card. The third (outermost) phalanges of the index and middle fingers are bent inwards but take no part in the action to follow.
2. Press backwards with the tip of the ring finger, forcing the face card back about an inch and making it protrude beyond the inner end of the deck (Fig. 42). This shows the sleight as seen from below; viewed from above, the cards appear to be in normal position, the protruding card being concealed by the back of the hand.
3. Bring the right hand palm upwards over to the deck, press its middle finger tip against the outer end of the second lowermost card, which is now exposed, and draw this card outwards about an inch; then seize and remove it with the aid of the thumb. Finally move the left little finger backwards and with it press the protruding card flush with the deck.
A little practice will show that the sleight is an easy one to do, yet it must be performed smoothly and without looking at the hands.”
The very first card trick we learned (from Dad) used this technique, and we’ve been performing this effect ever since.
Here it is:
“Ask the spectator to pick a card. Control that card to the top of the deck and then using an overhand shuffle place it 4th from the bottom of the deck. Feel free to add false shuffles at this point.
Tell the spectator you will try to make their card magically appear on the bottom of the deck. Lift up the cards, showing the spectator the face of the deck, and ask if they see their card.
They will of course say no, at which point you turn the cards facedown and remove the bottom card, placing it on the table facedown. You then ‘burn’ the card left on the bottom of the deck, placing it on top of the deck.
You tell the spectator you’ll try again. You show him the bottom of the deck, at which point he’ll respond by telling you that the visible card isn’t his card.
You turn the cards facedown and remove the bottom card—but this time you use the glide move to remove the card above the bottom card. This card is the chosen card. You then ‘burn’ the card left on the bottom of the deck, placing it on top of the deck.
At this point, the chosen card is on the table, on top of an indifferent card.
You repeat this procedure two more times until there are four cards on the table, the chosen card being second from the bottom.
You tell the spectator that you appear to have failed, but you’ll verify one more time that none of the cards were their card.
You pick up the packet of 4 cards and show the face of the packet to the spectator. They will of course verify that that card is not their chosen card.
At this point, you once again turn the cards facedown and use the glide move to secretly remove the chosen card and place it on the table. You place the card left on the bottom back on the top of the packet.
You then show them the next card, which of course isn’t theirs.
You then show them the final two cards in one go, rushing the procedure and saying ‘and of course, neither of these are your card?’
(You speed this part of the process up so that the spectator doesn’t notice that one of the cards will be the same as the first card they saw.)
Once the spectator has verified that none of the cards they saw were their chosen card, you can reveal the chosen card in any way you like. For example, you might lay the cards out in a row and say “well, if this isn’t your card, and this isn’t your card, and THIS isn’t your card” turning over one of the indifferent cards one at a time, “THIS must be your card”, turning over the chosen card following a magical gesture.
Allow your spectators to applaud and react.”
The glide is a simple technique but has a near infinite amount of uses.
Well, that’s your taster of Royal Road to Card Magic!
Get it Free!?
Want to get this free? With over $2000 in other classic magic books? Well all you have to do is click the link below: https://thedailymagician.com/classic-magic-books-lp-mobile
Did you know?
Two years ago, we discovered that many of the best magic books EVER WRITTEN—Tarbell’s course on magic, Expert at the Card Table by Erdanase and Bobo’s Coin Magic are ALL public domain.
Yes, you heard us right, just between these three books nearly 3,000 pages of incredible magic content is simply bouncing around the internet.
(and hardly anyone is using or knows about it…)
Here’s why…
- The content isn’t easy to find (you have to know EXACTLY what to search for and be aware of which sources are reputable and which aren’t)
- Many magic companies make NO effort to ensure this stuff is readily available (but they do profit off product after product that uses effects taken directly from these books and given a ‘modern twist’)
- People don’t know where to start (300 classic magic books is an overwhelming number, and it can be hard to find the really good stuff)
- The magic companies that HAVE collected these books sell them at a ludicrous price and they’re vastly behind the times ($80 for a CD ROM is kind of a joke…)
Here’s what we’ve done to tackle this issue…
- We’ve put all the books in one place (let’s not even talk about the 1000’s of hours this has taken, we’ll get PTSD…)
- We’ve written a commentary for all the ones we think are worth starting with (91 to be exact)
- We’re making this accessible to the entire magic world (let’s just say our price tag doesn’t even get close to $80…)
Here are just 3 out of the veritable 1000’s of effects and routines you’ll learn from this treasure trove of content…
- An incredible force by Theodore Annemann found on page 3 of ‘202 Methods of Forcing’ that is not only invisible but would make a fantastic ‘out’ for any good magic routine…
- A collection of stunning flourishes and fancy card work taught by T. Nelson Down’s on page 29 of his book ‘The Art of Magic’ that has been flabbergasting audiences for over a decade.
- A mentalism routine from Houdini himself found on page 52 of his book ‘Paper Magic’ that’s so audacious your audience would never even believe the method if you told it to them…
As we said, 3 of THOUSANDS of effects, routines, and pieces of theory you’ll pick up studying under the greatest magicians who’ve ever lived right at your fingertips below…
https://thedailymagician.thrivecart.com/classic-magic-book-collection-new/
All sounds to good to be true right?
But than we ran headfirst into another problem, and it was very frustrating!
That project sold in the thousands—but ever since we created it we’ve been acutely aware of one big problem….
For a lot of people these books are difficult to read, and so bulky it’s hard to find the really good stuff.
Our friend Danny Goldsmith (considered by many the world’s best coin magician) recently lamented to us that he learns better from video and struggles with classics such as Bobo—that would otherwise undoubtedly hold so much power for him.
So we came up with an even bigger and better idea…
We’d create a VIDEO collection of 138 of the BEST tricks from our library of 368 classic magic books!
…and we did!
First, we spent hours upon hours pouring over these books, sifting through the material, and finding the very best ‘hidden gems’.
And there were a LOT of them.
In fact, while creating this project we quite literally found the method for one the best selling magic tricks of 2023 in a single throwaway paragraph written by Theodore Annemann.
(this is no exaggeration, check out trick 39 of this project upon purchase to see the proof!)
Next, we spent nearly two weeks practically living in our studio, filming high quality videos going over each of these tricks and making them as EASY to understand as possible.
Our goal was to do ALL the hard work for you.
We’ve taken these tricks, added our own modernizations, touches, alternate handlings and most importantly brought them into the modern age in the form of video.
We’ve also made sure the original excerpts are right below the video because reading and watching can create an even better experience!
This was a mammoth task (have a sneak peek)…
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