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I'm going to try to ask this in a different way.

I keep bumping into people quoting a Dai Vernon move here and there with no explanation as to how it's done. I note that Vernon has lots and lots of books.

Is there a "all the sleights that Dai Vernon did which is a really useful reference" book?

If not, and I rather assume this is the case, can someone give me a buyers guide to Dai Vernon?

You could always start with the Inner Card Trilogy. There are a few books packed with tricks and sleights. Very good stuff.

There are also the Revelations videos. I think about 12 volumes. Magic, sleights, everything. The whole goddarn shebang will cost you quite a bit though but you do get to see the Professor perform himself in a relaxed jam session.

you could try Dai Vernon- Card sleights and moves. It might have what you're looking for.

The Dai Vernon knowledge (as typically recorded by Lewis Ganson) seems to be spread quite deliberately around a number of books. The Inner Card Trilogy mentioned before (itself available as three separate books) covers much of the stuff, but then there is The Lost Inner Secrets Series, of which I only currently have vol 1. There are also things like The Dai Vernon Book of Magic, also by Ganson, and The Vernon Chronicles vol 1-4.

They all seem to be published by L&L Publishing of Tahoma CA, which may or may not still be around. I have a copy of 'More Inner Secrets of Card Magic' (one of the Trilogy) published by 'The Supreme Magic Company' of 64 High St Bideford, Devon, if that assists anyone in tracking things down

What doesn't help is that there are so many books to choose from. I'm going to start with the trilogy I think.

The Book of Magic is a treasure trove, and the first two chapters should be required reading for every magician. There's a lot more non card material in the book, if that piques your interest at all.

L&L is very much still around, you can find them at llpub.com - some of the books are available as ebooks from Lybrary.com as well.

A lot of the stuff in Expert Card Technique is Vernon's - and would be more of a 'collection of sleights' that you are looking for.

Take care, Ian

The Inner Card Trilogy would be a good start, although I had forgotten that there is a fourth part of this trilogy, namely Dai Vernon's Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic. The book itself will explain the long story of why it is not in the trilogy (apart from it being book 4)

IanKendall suggests the Dai Vernon Book of Magic. To give a flavour, here are the items covered in Chapter 2 of that book

Dai Vernon reveals the methods he employs for the evolution and performance of his magic - the magician's line of thought when studying a new trick - the approach to original presentation - advice on naturalness of action - adapting a trick to suit one's own style and personality- conditions of performance - practice - simplification of handling - lessons to be learnt from great magicians of the past and present.

All this from one of the all-time greats

Stars of Magic has a couple good Vernon effects, and there's lots more in it too. Of course, if you just want to go for Vernon, I guess it wouldn't be much help...

The ace cutting effect in Stars of Magic is brilliant. In fact, anything you can find of Vernon's is brilliant.