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Lorraine's list of best books
Sid Lorraine's list of best books was published in his column "Sid Lorraine's Chatter" in Tops for June 1939 in response to a question posed to him in a letter. Lorraine was asked "for a list of what I consider the best twenty books published prior to 1920, and a list of twenty such books published since that date. The works to cover magic generally as to history, manipulation, etc."
Books published prior to 1920
- The Old and the New Magic - Henry R. Evans (1906)
- Our Magic - Jasper Maskelyne and David Devant (1911)
- Art of Magic - T. Nelson Downs & Hilliard (1909)
- The Expert at the Card Table - Erdnase (1902)
- Modern Magic - Professor Hoffmann (1876)
- Sleight of Hand - Edwin Sachs (1877)
- Magicians' Tricks, How They Are Done - Henry Hatton & Adrian Plate (1910)
- Expert Billiard Ball Manipulation, Part 1 & 2 - Burling Hull (1910)
- The Modern Conjurer - C. Lang Neil (1902)
- Original Magical Creations - Stanley Collins (1915)
- Original Mysteries for Magicians - Brunel White (1918)
- The Magical Entertainer - P. T. Selbit (1906)
- Problems in Mystery - Max Sterling (1909)
- Magical Originalities - Ernest E. Noakes (1914)
- Modern Coin Manipulation - T. Nelson Downs (1900)
- Secrets of Conjuring and Magic - Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1878)
Lorraine added, "Not quite twenty but that's all I can think of. There are such books as Abbott's Behind the Scenes With the Mediums and the complete file of Stanyon's Magic but I am listing strictly magical works and not including magazines."
Books published after 1920
- Quicker than the Eye - John Mulholland (1932)
- The Story of Magic - John Mulholland (1935)
- Magical Masterpieces - Louis Nikola (1934)
- The Nikola Card System - Louis Nikola (1927)
- Encyclopedia of Cigarette Tricks - Keith Clark (1937)
- Greater Magic - John Northern Hilliard (1938)
- The World's Cut and Restored Rope Tricks - Burling Hull (1927)
- Manipulative Series - Laurie Ireland (1937)
- Card Manipulations No. 1 - Card Manipulations No. 5 - Jean Hugard (1933-36)
- The Three Shell Game - Tom Osborne (1938)
- Al Baker's Book - Al Baker (1933)
- Magic and Stagecraft - Guy Jarrett (1936)
- And a Pack of Cards - Jack Merlin (1927)
- Popular Card Tricks - Walter Gibson (1928)
- Advanced Lessons in Cups and Balls - Eddie Joseph (1938)
- Mathemagic - Royal Heath (1933)
- Thimble Magic - Jean Hugard (1936)
- 202 Methods of Forcing - Ted Annemann (1932)
- Magic of the Hands - Edward Victor (1937)