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Camirand Academy of Magic

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The Camirand Academy of Magic is a Canadian publishing house that was co-founded in 1978 by magicians Guy Camirand and Gary Ouellet. A Harvard Business School graduate, Mr. Camirand wanted to produce books and tricks that covered "the background, where the trick came from, why it was done this way, and also introduce, if not completely new moves or methods, at least new twists that were well taught and natural. Also, it had to be something that would entertain lay public, but the structure and method had to be good enough to fool magicians." [from "Wise Guy: An Interview with Guy Camirand," The CAM Flash (a precursor to Northern Peaks), May 2001]

With this as their company mandate, the Academy went on to publish seven lavishly photo-illustrated one-trick booklets by Gary Ouellet between 1979 and 1986—Finger on the Card, Supershells, The Silver Passage, The Two Goblets, Threshold, The Homing Ring, and Eric DeCamps’ The Coin Connection—which collectively form the Masters of Magic series.

The success of these booklets (both critical and commercial) prompted Mr. Camirand to expand the Academy from its base as a publisher into manufacturing, and, in the early 1980s, he began producing tricks with gimmicks that reflected the company's ideology. Tony Binarelli's Lips, Paul Bélanger's The Bélanger Cigarette Thru Quarter, and Guy Camirand's own The Automatic Coffee Stirrer were among the first of these, all of which continue to be popular dealer items.

In 1990, upon releasing Gary Ouellet's opus, Close-Up Illusions (the Academy's most ambitious publication to that point), Guy Camirand left a lucrative career as a business consultant for large corporations and the government of Quebec to pursue the Camirand Academy full time. Now the object of his full attention, the Academy's catalogue began to grow exponentially, and has since come to include books, tricks, and DVDs by dozens of well-known innovators, including David Acer, Jean Boucher, Aldo Colombini, Marc DeSouza, Duraty, Ron Frost, Cyril Harvey, Patrik Kuffs, Olivier Macia, Phil Matlin, Joe Mogar, Hank Moorehouse, Patrick Reymond, John Rogers, Richard Sanders, Peter Studebaker, Jean-Pierre Vallarino, Boris Wild, and Meir Yedid.

The Masters of Magic Series

The Professional Magic Series

Other Books by The Camirand Academy

The Master Video Series

Lecture DVDs by The Camirand Academy

Tricks by The Camirand Academy

More Performances of Camirand Academy Tricks

External Links