Arturo De Ascanio of Madrid, Spain started the whole business. His original manuscript, dated December of 1970 and typed in Spanish, was given to Mike Ascanio Spread in actionRogers (through the persuasion of Del Cartier) to be published in M-U-M. Rogers realized that the move caused some excitement at the convention in Amsterdam (July 1970) and American cardmen would appreciate learning something new and different.
In fact, Rogers, Pete Biro, Herb Zarrow, and others that attended the convention in Holland were instrumental in "spreading the word." This little book was instrumental in the "wording of the Spread," making it a technique that every cardman should be able to understand and do.
Table of Contents include:
1. Dedication
2. Introduction
3. To Begin - Jon Racherbaumer
4. The Basic Move
5. Aces Culebreates
6. 1-2-3-4 Flip! Edward Marlo
7. The Homing Card ala Ascanio - Mike Rogers
8. The Cannibal Cards - Pete Biro
9. The Universal Card ala Ascanio - Mike Rogers
10. The Undulating Universal - Eugene Castillon
11. The Blocked Ascanio - Edward Marlo
12. SuperSpread - Edward Marlo
13. The Upturned One - Jon Racherbaumer
14. The Partial Ascanio - Eugene Castillon
15. Monte Madness - Eugene Castillon
16. Ladies Sing the Blues - Eugene Castillon
17. Jackpot - Eugene Castillon
18. Some Late Notes - Ken Beale
19. A Final Thank You
You get a ton of fantastic effects with this book. All created by some of the most powerful minds in magic. The effects contained in this small book are enough to get you a reputation for doing the impossible.
This book, sold for $14.95 at Ellusionist, is the definitive work on the Ascanio Spread, a beautiful spread created by Spanish magician Arturo de Ascanio. Filled with detailed instruction on the spread itself, followed by 13 different effects that utilise the move, this book is a valuable purchase for anyone interested in the Ascanio Spread.
The book itself is pretty old and some of the photographs are a bit unclear, but definitely not so bad that they mislead you. The level of detail and the writing is usually pretty solid and should easily be clear enough to make sure you understand the moves and effects perfectly.
For someone interested in using the Ascanio Spread this book is good value at just $14.95 but for someone just casually interested or thinking of using it in one trick then it probably isn't necessary. I'll give it a solid 6/10.
