Excellent condition, smoke free home.


Details: Photography by Lewis Ganson. This well produced book is a compilation of Inner Secrets of Card Magic (1959), More Inner Secrets of Card Magic (1960), and Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic (1961). Quite a few clear B&W photos help show the workings. A classic in card magic and highly recommended. (While the individual books in this compilation are also listed on this website, this contents listing includes descriptions.


“Inner, More Inner, and Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic make up the finest-ever collection of top-quality tricks and sleights. Get them on your shelf and you’ll be set for life…for this type of material will be fresh in 50 years time.”

– Harry Stanley, The Gen January 1969


Perhaps Hofzinser said it best, “card effects are the poetry of conjuring.” If that is so, Dai Vernon was a master poet.


Beginning at the tender age of five, David Frederick Wingfield Verner passionately embraced the art of magic with all his heart and soul-he never let go. Nothing got between him and his lifelong quest for perfection at his craft.


His well-grounded knowledge of the principles of conjuring and his skillful knack for expanding upon those principles gained him world-wide admiration. His many innovations have become “the stuff that dreams are made of.” Magicians respected him because he respected magic. It is well documented that he had a profound influence on his contemporaries as well as on the subsequent “new wave” of close-up practitioners that faithfully followed his teachings. Cervon, Jennings, Klause, Skinner, et al, they felt “The Vernon Touch”…they still do…so will you.


Thoughtfully pursue the pages of this book with cards in hand and you’ll soon realize whey they all lovingly call Dai Vernon, “The Professor.”


Contents: (note the page numbers are not continuous, each original book retains its original page numbers)


1 Dai Vernon’s Inner Secrets of Card Magic Part One


2 Contents

3 Foreword: Dai Vernon

4 Preface: Is Magic an Art? Cy Enfield

5 Introduction: Lewis Ganson


7 Chapter One: Taking Things Easy

7 Emotional Reaction: a card location

10 Cocktail Cards: performer reaches into a hat with all the cards mixed in it and pulls out three prior selections

12 The Bent Corner Prediction: a prediction card is used and a prediction comes true

14 Colour Separation: four reds and four blacks are mixed and the magician separates the reds from the blacks behind his back


17 Chapter Two: A Little Thought Required

17 Repeat “Do As I Do”: in this version the magician and spectator do not need to exchange packs

19 Four of a Kind: both magician and spectator are seen to have chosen the same two cards, which end up face down in the face up packs

22 Matching the Cards: the magician matches a selected card by cutting to three more eights, but the selected card turns out to be a King. The three other cards are now turned over and are Kings

25 Dai Vernon’s Colour Changing Pack: the entire deck changes color


27 Chapter Three: Hanging By a Thread (tricks using I.T.)

27 The Rising Cards: Cards rise well into the other hand!

30 The Pack that Cuts Itself (Al Baker): pack self-cuts at the selection

33 The Walking and Jumping Card (Al Baker): selection crawls out of a hat!


35 Chapter Four: Novel Knowledge:

35 To Show the Top Card: a flourishy way to show the top card

36 The Ginsburg Poke: a deck cut that brings a selection to the top

38 Jumbo Surprise: the surprise appearance of a Jumbo card

39 Elastic Touch: an alternative to salt

40 Time to Change: wiping the hands clean while concealing a card


43 Chapter Five: Colour Changes

43 1 – Tenkai’s Colour Change

45 2 – Al Altmann’s Double Colour Change: face card of pack changes twice

47 3 – Dai Vernon’s “Picking Off the Pip”: a Three to a Two

49 4 – Erdnase Plus Vernon

50 5 – Dai Vernon’s “No Palm” Colour Change

51 6 – Dai Vernon’s Pinch Colour Change

52 7 – Dai Vernon’s French Drop Colour Change

53 8 – Bob Hummer’s Visual Change: one card (not the pack) held in the fingers

55 9 – Cliff Green’s Visual Change: another change without the pack


57 Chapter Six – Desterous Deception

57 Production of Cards with Fingers Interlocked: Hands are interlocked and both sides shown, yet cards are produced

63 Bob Hummer’s Variation: another approach


65 Chapter Seven: The Notis Stop Trick

65 The Notis Stop Trick (Senor Notis): cards are levered one at a time from the pack, when the spectator yells “stop”, the card is the selection


69 Chapter Eight: Mexican Trickery

69 Sure-Fire Showdown: a two hand poker challenge

70 Bathroom Strippers: how to make your own “emergency” stripper deck


71 Chapter Nine: Miracles Take a Little Longer

71 The Chinese Second Deal: an approach to 2nd dealing

74 The Shooting Single Handed Deal: send the cards spinning

75 Look Up: a psychological approach to determining a “thought of” card


1 Dai Vernon’s More Inner Secrets of Card Magic


3 Contents

Introduction: Lewis Ganson


5 Chapter One: Twisting the Aces

5 Twisting the Aces: each time a small packet of four Aces is “twisted”, another Ace turns face up


9 Chapter Two: Think of a Card

9 Simple Arithmetic: magician reveals a thought of card after one question

12 Riffled Thought: a psychological approach to the peeked card

13 Think of an Ace: magician instantly cuts to a named Ace

14 Out of Sight – Out of Mind: Magician locates card without looking at the faces of the cards

16 Thought Transposed: a selected Ace changes places with an opposite back-colored Ace in another packet


20 Chapter Three: Oil And Water

20 Oil and Water: combination of Marlo’s Oil and Water and Vernon’s Follow the Leader


26 Chapter Four: McDonald’s $100 Routine

26 McDonald’s $100 Routine: an Ace assembly, often also called McDonald’s Aces


31 Chapter Five: The Notis Cascade

31 The Notis Cascade (Senor Notis): a card shuffle flourish


34 Chapter Six: Mainly Manipulation

34 1 – Allen Shaw’s Card Production: cards seem to jump into appearance

36 2 – Cardini’s Card Production: cards produced singly while the fingers are open

38 3 – Mosquito Parade: an entertaining and humorous routine of card manipulation done to music


41 Chapter Seven: Magic With the Riffle Shuffle

41 Basic Formation of a Step: forming the step break

43 The Pull Through Shuffle: order is maintained

47 The Pull Out Shuffle: complete order is maintained

49 Retaining the Top Stock: while riffle shuffling

49 Zarrow Full Deck Control: another false shuffle

51 Side Riffle Cut: retaining the bottom portion of the deck

52 Transferring a Bottom Stock to the Top

53 Reversal of Bottom Cards: e.g. face down to face up

54 To Keep the Colours Separated: in a shuffle

55 To Bring Cards to the Top: when a small number of cards are above the cards that need to be on top


57 Chapter Eight: Crimps

57 Top Card Crimp

57 Corner Crimp

58 Whole Pack Crimp

58 Cut Crimp

59 Spring Crimp

60 Mexican Joe’s Crimp: whole pack preparation

60 Snap Crimp: incorporates use of the Charlier pass to locate


63 Chapter Nine: Cards to Pocket

63 Cards to Pocket: Ten cards travel one at a time to the pocket


70 Chapter Ten: Forcing a Card

70 The Classic Force: a psychological force

71 The Malini Force: another psychological force

72 The Riffle Force: force card near center of deck

73 Fan Force: force card on face of deck

74 Back to Back Force: force card face up on face down deck


76 Chapter Eleven: The Trick that Cannot Be Explained

76 The Trick that Cannot Be Explained: because the effect depends on the circumstances of performance!


82 Chapter Twelve: Vernon Touches

82 The Vernon Glide: Dai Vernon’s approach to the Glide

84 The Push-Off Count: a false count

86 The Buckle Count: for example, count five cards as four to either the table or the other hand


1 Dai Vernon’s Further Inner Secrets of Card Magic

3 Contents

4 Foreword: Ken Brooke


5 Chapter One: The Four Blue Backed Aces

5 The Four Blue Backed Aces: a Four Ace assembly even though the Aces have blue backs and the indifferent cards have red backs


9 Chapter Two: Blindfold Poker Deal

9 Blindfold Poker Deal: Five Poker hands are dealt and each person remembers one card from their hand. Cards are assembled and dealt again, and magician hands has the cards previously selected. This is all done blindfolded!


11 Chapter Three: Cards of Coincidence

11 Cards of Coincidence: a card from a blue backed deck matches a selection from a red backed deck three times in a row


15 Chapter Four: Three Card Monte

15 Three Card Monte: the traditional, non-gimmicked approach for the main presentation. Presented as a demonstration and does not put the spectator on the spot. 20 The Use of a Short Card

21 The Optical Move: used for a conclusion


23 Chapter Five: Larry Grey’s Cards Across

23 Larry Gray’s “Cards Across”: cards invisibly pass from one packet to another


25 Chapter Six: More Novel Knowledge

25 1 – To Shuffle a Certain Number of Cards Above a Selected Card: adaptation of an Erdnase cut

27 2 – Plunger Location: controlling a card returned to a fan

28 3 – Card from Pocket: actually from the Palm, but apparently from the Jacket Pocket

29 4 – Switching a Card in an Envelope: a clever switch

31 5 – Double Lift From Fan: lifting two cards from a fan as one

33 6 – Staring Him in the Face: the deck is replaced in the case and held by the spectator. The magician knocks the case out of the spectator’s hand, and the spectator is left holding his selection


35 Chapter Seven: Palming

35 1 – Top Palm (Dai Vernon)

39 Other Methods Of Palming: intro

40 2 – To Palm a Card From the Pack With the Gambler’s Palm

41 3 – One Handed Palm (Dai Vernon)

42 4 – Second Gambler’s Palm

44 5 – Springing a Card into the Gambler’s Palm Position

45 6 – Some Useful Notes on Palming


48 Chapter Eight: Dealing Seconds

48 1 – Dai Vernon’s Second Deal

51 2 – Single Handed Method

52 3 – Dai Vernon’s “New Theory” Second Deal: top card appears to be taken fast and placed face up on the table

53 4 – A Quick Trick: selection turns face up in the deck


54 Chapter Nine: The Card Puzzle

54 The Card Puzzle: cards are dealt to the table in A, K, Q, J in each suit, but when turned over, the four packets are four Aces, four Kings, etc.


57 Chapter Ten: Another Larry Grey Trick

57 Another Larry Grey Trick: three selections are found twice by counting down into the deck, and a third time they rise from through a handkerchief enclosure


63 Chapter Eleven: Changes

63 The Top Change

66 The Bottom Change

66 One-Handed Card Change (Dai Vernon)

67 Harry Lorraine’s Change For Four Cards


69 Chapter Twelve: Two Tricks

69 Dai Vernon’s Version of “Everywhere and Somewhere”: a sort of ambitious card routine

71 Matching Any Number of Cards: performer is able to “match” several cards selected, without the spectator’s even knowing the value


Publisher: L&L Publishing

Pages: 236

Location: Tahoma, CA, USA

Dimensions: 7x10

Date: 1957, 1996

Binding: hardbound