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Ebook has 63 lines and 6436 words, and 2 pages

Transcriber's Note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics and text enclosed by equal signs is in bold .

Additional Transcriber's Notes are at the end.

MULTUM IN PARVO LIBRARY.

Entered at the Boston Post Office as second class matter.

Book OF Parlor Tricks.

How to Perform Them.

Smallest Magazine in the world. Subscription price 50 cts. per year. Single Copies 5 cts. each.

PUBLISHED BY A. B. COURTNEY, Room 74, - - 45 Milk Street, BOSTON, MASS.

The Diviner.

The point of this trick consists in divining a word which is named, together with several others. Two of the players commonly agree between themselves to place it after an object that has four legs; for instance, a quadruped, a table, etc., etc.

To Walk Upon a Hot Iron Bar.

Take half an ounce of camphor, dissolve it in two ounces of aqua vitae, add to it one of quicksilver, one ounce of liquid storax, which is the droppings of myrrh, and prevents the camphor from firing; take also two ounces of hematis, which is a red stone, to be had at the druggists'; and when you buy it, let them beat it into a powder in their great mortar, for, being very hard, it cannot well be reduced in a small one; add this to the ingredients already specified, and when you purpose to walk upon the bar, anoint your feet well with it, and you may do so without the slightest danger.

The Restored Ribbon.

Have two pieces of colored ribbon of exactly the same size and appearance, one of which, being damped, may be secured in the palm of the hand, previous to exhibiting. The other may be cut in pieces and burned in a plate by the audience. Taking now the ashes, you call for a basin of water, with which you moisten them, stating by the magical influence of the "cold water cure," the color and form of the burned ribbon will be restored. Rubbing the damp ashes in the hand, you draw forth, at the same time, the concealed ribbon, which will appear to be the same that had been consumed.

Interesting Problems.

How to Drop a Tumbler on the Floor Without Breaking It.

This requires a steady hand and smooth table. You simply set a tumbler upon a table near the edge and gently push the tumbler with your forefinger until it is very nicely balanced upon the edge of the table. Now by giving the tumbler a very gentle push again it will fall to the floor, striking upon its bottom edge, and remain standing either upon its bottom or lying upon its side perfectly sound. Be careful and have no covering upon the table, as the less friction you can get the surer you are to perform your trick.

Magic Money.

Sorcery.

Odd or Even.

To tell in which hand of a person, having an odd number in one hand and an even number in the other, the odd or even number is. Desire the person to multiply the number in his right hand by a figure which is an odd number, and the number in his left by an even one; and to say if the products added together are odd or even. If even, the even number is in the right hand; if odd, the even number is in the left hand.

To Discover Card by Weight.

Desire any person in company to draw a card from the pack, and when he has looked at it, to return it to you with its face downward; then, pretending to weigh it nicely, take notice of any particular mark on the back of the card, which, having done, put it among the rest of the cards, and desire the person to shuffle them as much as he pleases; then, receiving the pack from his hands, you pretend to weigh each card as before, and proceed in this way until you discover, from the back of it, the particular card he selected.

How Money is Saved.

Why pay a dollar, or even twenty-five cents each for books when we offer to send you the following set of twelve volumes on receipt of only ten cents. Read the list.

Book of Short Stories. A collection of interesting sketches.

Mormonism Exposed, by a Mormon Slave Wife. Telling about the secret rites of the Danites, doings of Polygamists with their numerous wives, etc., etc. This book is of thrilling interest.

Prize Cook Book. A collection of valuable household recipes from the best cooks in America. If you don't need this book yourself, some lady will appreciate it.

Dr. Parkhurst's Exposures. This book tells about the celebrated exposure of dens of iniquity in N. Y. Low life in the Metropolis is laid bare.

Art of Love Making, and Guide to Etiquette. This little volume is indeed interesting.

Book of Brief Narratives. Never before published. Very interesting.

Guide to Fortune Telling and Dream Book, compiled from the secrets of Madame Le Normand.

Book of Detective Stories. Thrilling adventures of detectives in ferreting out crime.

Secrets of the Harem. A description of the beautiful wives and slaves of the Sultan, by one who has been there.

How to Get Rich. Secrets for coining wealth, many of which have never been published before.

Marriage Manual. If you are married, or expect to be, you should get this important book and keep it securely under lock and key.

To get the complete set, send ten cents, silver or stamps, to Keystone Book Co., P. O. Box 1634, Philadelphia, Pa., or to the firm from whom you purchased this book. You will receive the books promptly and will be well pleased with them.

Eatable Candle-Ends.

Take a large apple and cut out a few pieces in the shape of candle-ends, round at the bottom and flat at the top, in fact, as much like a piece of candle as possible. Now cut some slips from a sweet almond, as near as you can to resemble a wick, and stick them into the imitation candles. Light them for an instant to make the tops black, blow them out, and they are ready for the trick. One or two should be artfully placed in a snuffer-tray, or candlestick; you then inform your friends that during your "travels in the Russian Empire," you learned, like the Russians, to be fond of candles; at the same time lighting your artificial candles , pop them into your mouth, and swallow them one after the other.

The Wonderful Hat.

The Invisible Coin.

"Is silver a visible or invisible thing?" What a singular question! You will reply, certainly silver is a visible thing. A good many poor creatures, however, are of a different opinion; and possibly they are not altogether wrong, as we are about to show.

Will you kindly lend me a quarter, having first marked it, that you may know it again. Very well! There is a little handkerchief which will serve for me to make the experiment I have promised you. In the middle of this handkerchief, as you will perceive, I will put the quarter, which you have marked with a small cross. I am only folding the handkerchief that the quarter may be well wrapped up in it; you can have no difficulty in recognizing its shape. However! You are suspicious! I will make an improvement. There, sir, hold the handkerchief yourself, first above the little parcel formed by the coin. You may touch it, and convince yourself that it is still in its place. Now, I take the handkerchief by the opposite corner, I draw it toward me, unfolding it entirely; I then turn it over, shake it, and wave it in the air, to convince you that the coin has disappeared. The fact is evident. But, did you see it go? No! Certainly, then, silver is sometimes an invisible body.

Which fact you may prove by the foregoing process, if you have a handkerchief in one corner of which a quarter dollar has been sewed. You appear to put the borrowed quarter in the middle of the said handkerchief; then, instead of this coin, which you retain in your hand, concealed between the fore and middle fingers, you fold the handkerchief making the little parcel in the middle with the quarter sewed in the corner, in a sort of hem, so that the coin is not seen, and cannot drop out. When you quickly pull the handkerchief out of the hand which held it, the illusion is complete.

As to the marked coin which it is easy for you to have put on the table, or in your pocket, you may make it reappear in a cup, a box, or anything else, which adds to the effect of the trick you have performed.

The Wizard Skeleton.

This is an animated figure, fourteen inches high. It represents a skeleton, miniature but lifelike in appearance. You may pass it around for examination, then stand it upon the floor and it will begin to dance without any visible motive power. Just think of it! People will imagine that ghosts or demons are near. This trick can be done in any room very easily. The skeleton will dance to music, jump, lie down, etc., just as you command. We will send the apparatus and secret of Wizard Skeleton for 6 cents in stamps. Address, A. B. Courtney & Co., 493 Washington street, Lynn, Mass., or the firm from whom you purchased this book.

Magic Writing.

Present a person with a slip of paper, a pen and a tumbler of water, and desire him to dip the pen in the tumbler, and write down whatever he pleases. When dry, the words will be invisible, but, if the paper is immersed in the contents of the tumbler, the writing will make its appearance quite distinctly. To perform this the pen should be a quill one, and new, and the water in the tumbler should have one or two crystals of sulphate of iron previously dissolved in it, while the writer should be careful the pen does not get dry in use. When the writing has been executed, the tumbler should be taken away, on pretence of the water being rather dirty, and wanting changing; another similar tumbler is brought back, filled to the same height with water, in which a few drops of tincture of galls have been poured. When the paper is immersed in this, the writing will quickly appear.

The Columbus Egg Trick.

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