Apologies, this week’s update is a couple of days late. I got a little distracted trying to create a better web-based version of The Expert at the Card Table. The version I created using Google Docs is great if you want to save it as a PDF or print it out. However, I wanted an edition that made linking to a specific section of the book easier. I also wanted to make navigating the book's content less frustrating, which is a little tricky to do in a Google Doc.
Therefore, I’ve started creating a new digital edition of The Expert at the Card Table using Google Sites. The pages are fully responsive, so it should be much easier to read this digital edition on the small screen of a phone or tablet. I haven’t finished adding all the content to the site yet. But it should be ready before the next update is published on Sunday. In the future, this is the copy of Erdnase I will link to from these updates.
Marty
P.S. This is the last update for the month of January. Next month, we’ll start looking at the false shuffles and cuts in the book. However, before that, let’s take some time to talk about some technicalities…
S.W. Erdnase wrote The Expert at the Card Table in the particular vernacular of the professional card cheat. Even when it was first published at the turn of the twentieth century, people unfamiliar with this language (most people reading it) would have struggled to comprehend some of the content because of this technical barrier. Even experienced magicians might have been unfamiliar with the terminology connected to professional gambling and card table artifice (unless they were well-read gamblers, of course).
Thankfully, Erdnase had the foresight to include a glossary of standard terms to help his readers understand the sleight-of-hand methods contained within his book. The Expert at the Card Table contains nineteen technical terms to help the reader better understand the complicated card manipulations described in the book. This was the first time many of these terms had been used, and the glossary made describing the subsequent card tricks and sleight of hand far more efficient. This is a feature of the author’s writing style that I’ve long admired; Erdnase’s writing is concise and to the point, thanks to his precise use of technical language.
In a modern context, it is incredible to realise that a lot of the standard language we use when describing sleight of hand with playing cards comes directly from the pages of The Expert at the Card Table. Stock, run, jog, injog, outjog, break, throw, cull, undercut, run cut, shuffle, riffle, shift, and crimp are all common words in the card magician’s lexicon. But they weren’t as common as they are now before The Expert at the Card Table was published. And, while Erdnse didn’t originate all of these terms, he did popularise their use. As a result, The Expert at the Card Table quickly became a stand reference text used by many magic authors. It is common to find it referenced in magic books, manuscripts and periodicals from the nineteen hundreds onward.
Blind.—Any method of shuffling, riffling, cutting or culling, designed to appear regular, but in reality retaining, or arranging, some preconceived order.
However, there is one notable exception in this list: the author’s use of the word “blind”—as in blind shuffle or blind cut—didn’t really catch on. Erdnase uses this term to describe an action that looks innocent but is anything but. For example, a blind shuffle might make it look like the cards are being thoroughly mixed when, in actuality, they retain their original order. Modern convention labels this kind of manoeuvre as “false”. For example, false shuffle, false cut or false transfer. However, I think I prefer the term blind because it makes the moves sound more mysterious!
So, study these technical terms well. Once they’re fully understood, it will be found that the explanations that Erdnase gives, despite what some magicians say, are well-written and very clear to understand.