Royal Road to Card Magic The

language, took most of his material from the French authors and followed their example in this respect. He described the pass as 'the very backbone of card conjuring', and for years this statement was accepted as gospel by all our other writers, who reiterated without exception that, 'without the pass, card magic is impossible'.
    The pass is a very difficult sleight to master, and this insistence on its indispensability makes it easy to understand why the would-be card conjurors of the 19th Century, after a prolonged and vain struggle with the intricacies of this sleight, finally decided that conjuring with cards was not for them and decided to try out some easier hobby.
    After all, the principal use of the pass is to move a chosen card from the middle of the pack to the top, or vice versa; but it was not until the turn of the century that card conjurors freed themselves of this inhibition and devised easier methods of attaining the same objective.
    We have shown in the preceding pages that the pass is not absolutely essential to card conjuring and that any trick can be performed without using it. Anyone who really has the urge to perform good tricks with cards, and to do just that in the shortest possible time and with the simplest possible methods, has been shown how it can be done. The methods that have been given are simple, but always in conjuring the simplest methods are the most effective. By mastering the simple, natural ways of making all necessary moves which we have given you, you will have made great progress in a surprisingly short time.
    Although we have relegated the pass to the role of a subsidiary sleight, we do not wish you to think that it is unimportant. When it is done well it is the most important sleight in card magic. However, because it is so difficult to master, it should be the last sleight that the novice should be called upon to learn.
    We can think of no good reason why you should not be performing good card magic in the months it will take you to learn to do the pass well, and do not want you to wait until you have learned this difficult sleight - and if you never do learn this sleight you will still be able to perform mystifying, amusing and deceptive tricks of card magic by using the other methods that we have given you; these you will continue to use in any case, even when you have mastered the pass.
    The Pass
    The Grip
1. Hold the pack, back upwards, in the left hand as for dealing, but with the thumb flat against the left edge of the cards (figure 86).

    2. Insert the left little fingertip between the two portions of the pack to be transposed.
    3. Place the right hand over the pack, the fingers at the outer end and the thumb at the inner end (figure 87).

    Left-hand Action 1. Grip the upper packet firmly, by pressing down upon it with the first phalanx of the left ring finger, thus gripping it firmly between that finger and the little finger. Press the first phalanxes of the index and middle fingers on the top of the pack.
    2. Straighten the left hand so that the fingers, between the first and second phalanxes, are parallel to the back of the left hand. The upper packet will be carried to the right between the left little and ring fingers, which continue to grip it firmly.
    Right-hand Action
1. Now press upwards against the outer end of the lower portion with the right middle finger, which bends inwards to exert that pressure upwards. This pivots the lower portion between the middle finger and the thumb of the right hand, slanting it upwards to the right, until it moves above the other packet (figure 88). Note particularly that the left thumb remains pressing against the left edge of the packet.

    2. Close the left fingers into the palm, carrying the upper packet below the other, where it rests on the left palm.
    3. Close the packet originally at the bottom on top of the other portion and square the pack. Do not extend the left forefinger in the action. This is a very common and serious fault.
    The classical pass just described requires a cover of some sort, and in general the advice given is never to do it immediately after a card has been returned to the deck or while the eyes of the spectators are fixed on the performer's hands. There are certain covers, however, which allow one to do just that; since they are know to very few, we shall set them forth here. The first and one of the best follows.
    Riffle Pass
    1. A card having been returned to the deck, preferably somewhere