Rennie,

I too am a Trostophile. I bought this book some time ago when L&L still had it in print. It is a great book and a continuing source of new material and ideas for me. The only reason I did not add it to my suggestions in this thread is that it is OOP and it would have perhaps proved difficult for the OP's gift purchaser's to know where to start looking.

I am curious as to why L&L has not reprinted this book. Nick Trost's name and work are well known to informed magicians, and with the prices going up on this gem, perhaps L&L could grab the opportunity and reprint this for a new generation.

I would hate to see this book become forgotten.

Best,
Vlad

Vlad,
I wholeheartedly agree with that. This book should be in everyone's magic library.
Rennie

Ron,
You do not have the Trost book?
Like Vlad said, now you will never find it...By the way are you familiar with Peter Duffie'e "Vanished or Gone"?
Rennie

Id go for dear mr fantasy

Rennie,

I "had" Trost's book, obtained what I wanted and passed it along to the next lucky user, as they are difficult to find. Plus, I'm simply not a collector. I am not familiar with any of Duffie's material.

Ron

Over Nick Trost, No way...
Rennie

It's ok, we all have preferences this doesn't have to be a debate. In fact, we can just say these are both great books and a good buy. I too enjoy the Trost book very much. I just found more usable material for the money in Bannon's book. It was also a pleasant read in a nice conversational setting. The Trost book, while containing plenty good material, consisted of a lot of set ups, and out of date material that is hard to keep up with todays expectations. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the material, but I really can't use that many tricks using the Gilbreth Principle, etc.

Where can you find "Dear Mr. Fantasy" for $25.00? The last time I priced it it was more than that everywhere, as I remember.

I agree: why DOESN'T the publisher reprint "The Card Magic of Nick Trost"? Or, why doesn't Chris Wasshuber over at Lybrary.com give us an ebook version? (I really like Lybrary.com -- it has made available again many classics, in an affordable form -- and I have heckled Chris about this repeatedly. )

For self working card tricks you should also check out the works of Rufus Steele as well as John Scarne's "Scarne on Card Tricks". I also wanted to second the opinion on "Card College Light" by Roberto Giobbi, which is overall the best self working card (e)book available today - in my opinion.

At the Lybrary we have a special card->self-working category http://www.lybrary.com/cards-selfworking-c-21_27_158.html where you will find several of the works mentioned in this thread.

If by Fulves' Magic kit you mean the books by Fulves published by Dover (Self-Working Card Tricks etc), then I would suggest that: there are some strong tricks in there.

Check out osterinds bcs ...