Is there any relationship between these books?

For instance, is "The Card Magic of Nick Trost" a selection of material from his "Subtle Card Creations" series? Or is it an entirely separate work?

And are they similar in style/content, and is "The Card Magic of Nick Trost" effectively a "Subtle Card Creations Vol 0.5"? Or is it something quite different?

Ops!
Now I saw you started a new thread on this. I had just replied to a post of your in the "New To Magic?" section

Here's my copy and paste. Dunno how useful my reply may be to you, but here it is anyway ..

Hello,

I own "The Card Magic of Nick Trost" and I own "Subtle Card Creations" volumes 1 and 2, so I cannot speak about the following volumes.
In the books that I own there are no "duplicates" (I mean same trick in two books).

>Does "The Card Magic of Nick Trost" (1997) have easier or better content than the volumes in his later "Subtle Card Creations" (2008 onwards)?

There is so much stuff in these books that it is inevitable that you'll find a few good thins and lotsa inferior, impractical material. In particular I usually don't care about tricks/routines that require set-up, special cards, duplicates and so on. And in these books you'll find many many of these kind of tricks.

This said, "The Card Magic of Nick Trost" is the best one of the three I have, in my opinion.

Despite what I said above, "Technicolour Change" is one of my favourites (it uses a deck specially made for the trick) and "Trost on Reset" is a piece I use in a routine that begins with "Day Trippers" from Card College #4 page 857.

Always from "The Card Magic of Nick Trost", "The Observation Test", the "10 or 18 card poker routines", "Automatic Lie Speller" (beautiful routine that uses Si-Stebbins stack - doesn't work in Italian unfortunately .... but that's not your problem), plus a few of the packet tricks and one or two of the ESP tricks are particularily good.

The definitely share the same style, kind of material and structure (various chapters collecting trick with something in common as plot, tools, concept, etc ..)

PM me if you wish further details

Mark

That's some fantastic information!

Many thanks Mark for taking the time to share that - it's very much appreciated!

I own the first three volumes of Subtle Card Creations, as well as "The Card Magic of Nick Trost"

What's similar about all the books, is that all the material is categorized. For instance: Packet Tricks, Court Cards, Four Aces, ESP Cards, Gambling Effects and so on. While the material is different from book to book, you'll see some of the same categories.

The books are always jam packed with a wide range of material. Some require special cards or some kind of arts & crafts to make-up.

I think in general "The Card Magic of Nick Trost" has some of Trost's better know material. With that said, Subtle Card Creations Vol. 3 has his Rainbow Miracle, a marketed item that along with Mel Stover's Yenta Outfiddled inspired the many rainbow/casino decks using the Gemini Twins principle.

It's hard to imagine that the average card worker couldn't find a handful of effects from each book they'd like, which don't require a lot of difficult sleight of hand. A lot of Nick's material is visual as well.

Thank you for your comments motown - that's very helpful!

I appreciate you taking the time to share those excellent impressions.

One other thing I’ll mention. While the illustrations for the Card Magic of Nick Trost were done by JK Schmidt, the illustrations for the Subtle books have been done by Tony Dunn.

Years ago, I did a review of The Card Magic of Nick Trost. I cover what I liked, and if you scroll down the page you can see several different demos of effects right from the book. I'm biased toward this book and it's one of my favorites.

http://www.magicbookreport.com/2011/05/t......k-trost/

Steve, that's outstanding! Great work on the video demos as well.

Thanks so much for sharing that here.

Steven, thank you for sharing your video performances. I certainly enjoyed your take on the Nick Trost false deal demo.
Any plans for additional book reviews?

Thanks, Greg. I'd love to do more reviews but I haven't had the time. As soon as time allows, it would be a blast to start them again.

I may be in the minority but I have been doing card magic for over twenty five years, have hundreds of magic books (a large number being classics) and I think The Card Magic of Nick Trost stacks up as one of the best books ever written on card magic. I would put it up there with Harry Lorayne's Close Up Card Magic, The Royal Road to Card Magic, Expert Card Technique and Scarne on Card Tricks.

Steven Keyl above first turned me on to Card Magic of Nick Trost right here in the Café! Since then I've been finding little gems in it all the time.Thanx Steven. Lynn

I agree.

And I agree as well!
I have now realised my previous post, although sincere, may have been misleading. My bad, of course.

There are many many great things in this book. I find most of them not practicle.

For example the Pinochle inspired trick is no good in Italy, since no one (me included) knows the game.

The many tricks with big set ups, gaffs, duplicates and so on, are of no or, at the best, of very little use to me. If I carry a stacked deck (and I always do), it's in Mnemonica order.

But if you're looking for good tricks, not too demanding technically to perform to the same audience and yet guarantee them a certain variety, then with this book you're definitely spoilt for choice!

Mark

Heard a reprint of The Card Magic of Nick Trost is coming up. Hope it is true. Been waiting for it for a while.

Penguin's site says back in stock around April 15th. Looks like a reprint may be on the way to all the major dealers.