This is a magic book for beginners. It is long on description but short on explanation. That's okay. As John Salisse, Honorary Vice-president of The Magic Circle says in the Foreword, "It is not how a trick is carried out which is important, but how it is presented."

This is an oversized book for display on the coffee table, not for shelving out-of-sight. Your guests, young and old, will be entertained simply by leafing through the pages of this lavishly illustrated volume. Within the pages of this book you will discover magic for the junior magician as well as for the master magician.

My favorite trick in the book, Woolly Wizardry, is simple in explanation but bewildering in demonstration. A borrowed coin is marked, wrapped into a piece of paper, and attached to a spring clip suspended from a wire hook held by a spectator. The coin is caused to travel from the packet to a paper bag (stapled shut) located some distance away. The packet is torn to pieces, revealing that the coin is gone. When the paper bag is torn open, there is a ball of wool inside. It is dropped into a large drinking glass. Taking one end of the yarn, the ball is unwound. A clinking sound is heard and the coin falls into the bottom of the glass. The spectator removes the coin, checks the mark, and acknowledges that it is his mark and his coin. Applause, please!

A general index perused by entries in regular typeface (descriptions) and bold typeface (illustrations) will point you to famous magicians, past and present, from The Great Carmo on page 1 to Dante on pages 184-5. Italicized entries will lead you to famous books about magic from Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) to Paul Daniels' Magic Book (1980). There is a separate index of magic tricks and techniques where readers are guided to sections of the book where they can learn how magical effects are prepared and performed. Incidentally, don't look for "Houdini" in the index. Although there are more references to Houdini than to any other magician in this book, he is cited by his real name, Ehrich Weiss.

About the Authors. Edwin A. Dawes is a magic historian, collector, lecturer, and writer. He is an Honorary Vice-President of The Inner Magic Circle, London. He has won prestigious awards from the Academy of Magical Arts, Hollywood, an organization headquartered at the Magic Palace that is devoted to the promotion and development of the art of magic, and from the Society of American Magicians, the oldest fraternal magic organization in the world. Arthur Setterington is a performer and writer, a member of The Inner Magic Circle, London, and an award winner from the world's largest organization for professional and amateur magicians, the International Brotherhood of Magicians. ( )