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The Effect
This eight volume magic course is highly regarded by many magicians and covers practically everything!


Cost
Between £20 and £30 per volume, depending where you look.



Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Aimed at the beginner, this also has some more complex effects. It varies betwen 1 to 4.


Review
I bought the first four volumes of this series about ten years ago and still haven't got round to purchasing the final four!
This is not because I don't want them, there is so much in these books that each one is crammed with usable effects and ideas which can still stun the layman, despite being written in the twenties!
If you like Mark Wilson's book, then I would strongly recommend the Tarbell course. Not only do you have the effects, there are essays about other performance or magic related subjects, all of interest.
The first volume contains various preuldes concerning secrects, misdirection etc and has chapters on the history of magic and magic as a science. Both worth reading.
After these introductory lessons it covers Sleight of Hand With Coins (palming methods,hold, vanishes) Coin Tricks (dissolving coin, coin through handkerchief and loads more, a section on the TT, Impromtu Tricks (with rubber bands, string,etc), Ball Tricks (including Cups and Balls), Mathematical Mysteries, Effective Card Mysteries (including Rising Card Escape, Hindu Colour Changing Deck and The Slip Change), Eight Impromptu Card Mysteries, Mental Card Mysteries, Card Sleights (Passes, flase shuffles, false cuts, force), Novel Card Mysteries, Restoring Torn Papers (including the classic Winter Time In China), The Rope and Tape Principle,Handkerchief Tricks, Knotty Silks (tricks with - guess what - silks!) and Eggs and Silks.
Is that enough for you? And that's only the first volume!
The instructions are precise and all the diagrams, which are hand drawn,
are very clear.
Studying these books give you a grounding in classic magic principles, and although some of the effects are dated, they won't take much adapting to modern styles if you use your imagination.



Overall
10/10

Oh bu**er...... one of my previous CUPS wishlists has again been brought to the forefront of my mind!!

Have looked into this and Paul Daniels - How to make money from magic - course several times and one day I will get them!!

oh yes, i was peeping through this book last night. some effects are dated but it is crammed with magic. the coin section was wonderful and covered alot. i wasn't too sure what i was meant to be doing so purchased michael ammars coin introduction dvd which is good.

Jordan C wrote:Oh bu**er...... one of my previous CUPS wishlists has again been brought to the forefront of my mind!!

Have looked into this and Paul Daniels - How to make money from magic - course several times and one day I will get them!!

There are some places that sell the complete course for between £100-£130. They really are good books, but when you get one you want them all!!!!
I know what you mean about CUPS, there are so many things I want and I see more every day! Aaaah!

The Effect
This eight volume magic course is highly regarded by many magicians and covers practically everything!


Cost
Between £20 and £30 per volume, depending where you look.



Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Aimed at the beginner, this also has some more complex effects. It varies betwen 1 to 4.


Review
I thought I would give a review of each of the Tarbell volumes I currently own. These books seem to be overlooked of late and for the price of each volume, packed with advice and effects, you could buy one gimmicky packet trick!
Volume 2 continues in the same manner as the first, starting with a lesson on How To Please Your Audience.
The lessons in this volume start with Magic With Wands, not something I would use, but a lot of performers would and the effect in here are invaluable if that's what you are looking for.
The next section on Double Paper Mysteries has some great effects such as ones using a Two Way Paper cone and Coin Through Saucer.
Another lesson on magic with coins follows which includes the classic Miser's Dream effect. These books are packed with so many legendary effects from the history of magic, some which are seldom performed these days.
A section I got great use from was the Cigarette Magic one which teaches you the push-in vanish, pivot vanish, front and back hand palm, throwing vanish, cigarette up nose, producing a cigarette from the ear, swallowing a cigarette, catching cigarettes in the air, Cardini's floating cigarette and many more. A great section of the course!
Next follows three lessons using cards: Sleight of Hand With Cards (palming, colour changes and most bizarrely Cascade Production From Boy's Nose - amongst many others!), Selected Card Mysteries (including a superb over the phone trick) and rising cards - 18 rising card effects!
Sections on Egg Magic, Billiard Ball Manipulation, Handkerchief Magic and Rope Magic contain plenty of great tricks.
The section on "Ghostlite Mysteries" is interesting but not something I would use. The Illusions chapter contains stage effects similar to those in the Mark Wilson book and this volume is rounded off with some Mental Magic.
As before, another great, diverse collection. Some you will read for information, others you will be exited about performing, but you will enjoy reading the lot!



Overall
10/10

It may also be worth noting, that if you don't mind reading ebooks, the entire series has been made available by lybrary.com here for $39

oeb wrote:It may also be worth noting, that if you don't mind reading ebooks, the entire series has been made available by lybrary.com here for $39

The E-book version is the original correspondence course. The material was revised and expanded for the hardback volumes, and Vol. 7, by Harry Lorayne, is all new material.

I've just bought the full 8 vol set. There's a huge amount of useful stuff in there.

Barry

I bought Volume 3 yesterday, and I haven't put it down yet (except for when I was watching my Banachek DVD)! It doesn't matter whether you've been doing magic since grade school or if you started last weekend, you will find stuff that you can start practicing right away. I haven't even finished it yet, but I have read close to fifty tricks (estimate), and there's probably about fifty more. It also teaches you how to make your performance better by adding humor and how to set up a stage show. The price hardly covers all of the information in the book. It's a steal!

You can certainly get engrossed in these volumes. There's so much in there and in the main, full of excellent effects.
I often dip into them and re-read things. It would take a lifetime to learn everything in them!

I have to agree that this course get a 10 out of 10! I recieved volumes 1 and 2 from my uncle when I was just starting to get serious about magic. I have all 8 volumes now, and still reference them! Though a lot of the "patter" is old, you should be making up your own patter anyways, so that will just give you more reason to come up with new presentation. These are classics, that even today hold mystery in them...

In 1940 Lou Tannen & Ralph Read( author, editor & owner of the Chicago Magic Company) approached Doc Tarbell about publishing, in book form, a revised and expanded version of his famous Mailing Magic Course.
Tannen was reputed to have paid $5,000 for the copyright.
A great deal of the old Course was replaced with new effects and new illustrations but 'the old successful format was retained.'
LATER Tannen asked Harry Lorraine to write Vol. 7 because magicians had continually asked for ' the final volume for years'
Around the end of the 80's & beginning of the 90's , Steve Burton researched, for over 2 years, found and collected together other Tarbell material. It was then published as Volume 8. Steve describes it ( Tarbell Compamion 1994)as 'a collection of Tarbell's tricks, thoughts and ideas, using the Original Mail Order Course as its main source of inspiration.'
He included the unpublished Productive Japanese Lantern.
The Egg Bag has the ploy( still used now) of both the performer's wrists being held by spectators. It also has a finale with the production of a line of baby clothes and a baby's bottle from the assistant's coat. This is a piece of great stage business that (sadly) you couldn't perform now with a child assistant though it would provoke great fun with a grown up male spectator.
One of the most intriguing items is how Tarbell developed the 'Rich Davis ONE MAN Substitution Trunk Mystery.'

Paul Fried.the Managing Director of D. Robins & Co. ( The current Publisher & holder of the Tarbell Course rights) published Tarbell 8 as it was his longed for vision to use Steve Burton's work.
Richard Kauffman, who supplied Steve with his first copy of the original Tarbell System, was the Executive Editor. Several other notable American magicians also supplied rare material to 'complete', arguably, 'the greatest ( and certainly the most useful) collection of effects ( and advice) in Magic.
Allen Tipton

Many creative magician's source their material from the past and adapt it for the present. There is no better grounding than the Tarbell course. I purchased mine in the sixties and still enjoy delving into it now.

Thanks for the interesting info Allen
In volume one, there is the same effect that David Blaine used in his cinema ad's, the one where he riffles the cards and asks you to think of one.
Most people probably didn't realise that some of these effects have been around as long as they have!
The description of the Pass in this volume and the selection of forces are excellent. Even now, you pick up on something new everytime you delve into a volume.

Volume 3.

The Effect
This eight volume magic course is highly regarded by many magicians and covers practically everything!


Cost
Between £20 and £30 per volume, depending where you look.



Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Aimed at the beginner, this also has some more complex effects. It varies betwen 1 to 4.


Review
The third volume of this excellent series is packed again with another diverse mixture of magic, and as before, there's something to interest every magician.
The first two lessons in this book cover Routining a Magic Show and How To Make People Laugh, both have useful tips which can be applied to todays performers. The Intimate Magic section has some superb effects, using easily obtainable everyday objects. This section in itself has effects using ropes, crayons, cards, matches and safety pins and can easily be adapted to the modern performer's style.
The following lesson on Conjuring With Currency has some wonderful routines.These are all concerning paper money. A similar idea to 'bill in lemn' here is one where the bill appears in an unopened packet of "Lifesavers" (Polo Mints here in the UK) and the burnt and restored bill effect is nice but could be performed easier these days using flash paper currency.
Modern Coin Effects contains some nice flourishes such as Manuel's Coin Star and the The Coin Roll. (This is also in Mark Wilson's book and is very pretty to see when performed well) There are some effects using Okito boxes in this section too.
Fundamental Card Sleights has some pass variations one of which being the Multiple Card Pass which I haven't attempted yet! False cuts and counts are covered here too with many different variations. I really like using the glide false count. Numerous fans and card changes are covered, all excellently described with diagrams.
This volume is an excellent on for the card magician as the next sections are also card based, Card Mysteries has some nice effects, mostly involving handkercheifs and the section on Card Stabbing has nine different effects.
The lessons concerning Novelty Handkerchief Magic and Colour Changing Silks are not ones that particularly interest me personally, but are interesting to read and as ever, contain some great effects.
The old magic standards of Rabbit and Dove Magic is covered well and are of great use to the childrens entertainer. The final section concerns Illusions, The Farmer & The Witch and a ghost routine. Both are interesting to read but are not ones I would personally perform.

Another great volume, packed full of effects, sleights, tips and ideas and there are bound to be numerous things in this book to warrant any magicians purpose.
I love the way that the Tarbell books offer many ways to do some things and for a compendium are very comprehensive.

Overall 10/10
10/10[/b]

FOR WOULD BE PURCHASERS. Once A Year.
If you can wait for the Summer Time to receive your Tarbells ALL 8 Volumes can be PRE-ordered from Geoff Maltby at Repro Magic for around £100. They are usually delivered around the end of August/beginning of September.
He brings these back from New York on the yearly Magic Cruise ( The Queen Elizabeth 2)
The order form, which contains other expensive books at lower prices usually comes with Abra around May.
Allen Tipton[/u]