What is the deal with this book? I just saw a copy on eBay, which currently has 32 bids and is priced at $102.50. I've also seen promotional _posters_ for the book sell for more than the price of a quality magic book. And from the few descriptions I've found, it's a book on, well, throwing cards.

:huh:

Obviously I'm missing something. Can someone fill me in on what makes this such a prized possession?

I think that a couple of things may have contributed to bumping up the value...

1. The book is out of print and is tough to find.

2. Ricky Jay is famous.

3. People on E-Bay often either ask for too much money or people bid extremely high.

A collectable item is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. To someone with little or no interest in the subject, the book is extremely overpriced. To those that are fans of Ricky Jay or book collectors, this is a rare find for them so they are willing to pay quite a bit for it.

The problem too is that there is very little written on scaling and since this book is all about scaling, well, you know. I heard they've put it on disk now so you can read it off your computer. I think it runs thirty or forty bucks.

Sable

Sable, by scaling do you mean card throwing?

Yes, and it is the only magic related book with full female nudity! My local magic shop has a softcover copy for $300. I skimmed through it and boy was I surprised with what I saw. Definitely not a kids book, but it would be really cool to own.

You might be surprised to find Jay's book still sitting in the hobby section of your favorite book store as opposed to magic store (that's where I got mine several years back). I know someone who just bought a softcover at Walden books just last year (must have been sitting there ignored by laymen for ages).

The book is in my opinion way overated. Yeah, it's cool, but it's more like a 70's joke to promote Ricky Jay. There is no new knowledge in there, and everything can be found in other magic sources (except for the partially nude lady of course).

Sorry Enigma, no time to now to type it out, but the reference (if no one had emailed you yet ) can also be found in the Hugard's THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CARD TRICKS (under The Perpetual Almanac or The Soldier's Prayer Book on pg. 374) and Giobbi's CARD COLLEGE Volume 2. If your still high and dry let me know and I'll type it our for you. It is a great piece of handy knowledge.

Well I just saw a guy named Ricky (young fellow 25-30 years old) throwing playing cards outside a distance in excess of 100 feet.

When I first saw him throwing from a distance, it looked like he was throwing Rocks. But they were all bicyle back poker sized playing cards.

He says he has been measured at over 72 yards and after seeing him, I have no reason to doubt that!

I dont know if I would pay $300 to learn that from a book, but it sure drew a crowd of magicians to watch and shake their heads.

And I have to believe that laymen would be equally impressed.

I will find out his last name from a friend who should know him. But I have to say that it was an impressive impromptu display of scaling at its finest.

BroDavid

I have the book and while it doesn't teach you a whole lot it does teach you some things you wont learn anyware else. With Jay's throwing technique I can easily throw somewhere around 100 feet on a good day. Its a great feeling to have a croud stand in disbelief while you throw a card 100 times what the strongest person in the whole group can.
I tried to make a nice little routine about card throwing and its use in warfare against the evil empire of opressive court cards. However, I lack in the area of accuracy so this routine became pretty darn impossible to perform consitently.

isn't 211 the record? or is it 201? its something with a 2 and a 1...

I just saw Ricky (I missed his last name again...but iti s the same guy I talked abou in my earlier post) last night at IBM 161 monthly meeting near Akron, Ohio (I was a guest) and he acknowledged that he now holds the Guinnes world record at 72 yards, which seems to me to be about 214 feet.

He also said that the throws that won the record will be on TV in a couple of weeks - I didnt hear a time and date on it.

But this guy can really make a card fly and I have seen him do it outside - which is even more amazing..

BroDavid

All of the above reasons are true.
1. Ricky Jay is famous now and is quite an entertainer.
2. The book was published back in the 70's and is hard to find.
3. It does contain a nude model posing as if demonstrating some of the techniques.

I met Ricky back in the 70's in Chicago when he stopped by te round table. Back then he did a tremedous cull from a shuffled deck. Very quick and very smooth. I guess by now it must really be great.