Finger on the Card

Finger on the Card, released as a one-trick booklet in 1979, was the first installment in the Camirand Academy's Masters of Magic series. Created and written by Gary Ouellet, the routine was originally designed as a way to package and sell the five necessary sleights—a force, a double lift, a false cut, a control and a glimpse—but as Ouellet noted in the 1986 second edition, “Although I think the effect is, in its way, a little gem, I was certain that it would be regarded as a handy way of selling instructions for five sleights. In this I was wrong, because letters and comments received (those unsolicited testimonials that sometimes end up in advertisements) concerned the effect, not the method.”

Collectors will also note that the first printing was apparently written by someone named Kagliostro, which in fact was a pseudonym for Gary Ouellet.

For the 1986 revised edition (actually the third printing), Ouellet rewrote the text from scratch, and the photos were interspersed more effectively with the prose. In addition, a bonus section was included, featuring alternate sleights Ouellet came to favor in place of their earlier counterparts (this was also the first time Gilles Couture's excellent Swivel Cut Control appeared in print).