Are there any books on collecting magic? Guide books listing the various types and values of different tricks or magic sets?

Check with Byron on anything collectible in magic.

http://www.byronwalkermagicbooks.com/

Rennie

Germany's Wittus Witt has a very nice book on magic set collecting, although I think it was only written in German. He also publishes, or did at one time, a magazine devoted to magic set collecting.

http://www.wittuswitt.de/Web-Site/Die_Za......itt.html

I guess the closest thing to a collecting magic would be Hobby Magic by Young.

The only price guide I guess would be by Cartlidge. The only problem now is that the market has tanked and needs to find the bottom.

^^^ Boy does Hobby Magic prompt some memories! As a teenaged collector, it was one of my favorites. In some respects, it’s now a bit outdated, but it still has much to offer the novice collector.

IMHO, for the beginning collector, there are many reasons why great caution is the watchword for any “price guide” to magic collectibles. As Kevin suggests, these price guides can quickly get out of date when the economy is in flux. Also, for the newbie, these guides usually lack explanations as to why the same title sold for $45 one day and $250 the next day. Sometimes it’s a matter of overzealous bidders, but other times there are very good reasons for the price discrepancy, such as condition and provenance. That’s not a knock on guys like Ron C. who expend incredible energy and time to put these guides together. Rather, it’s a reflection of the fact that space and time simply do not allow the compilers the luxury of providing the full particulars of each item sold, not to mention the fact that some variances between ostensibly identical collectibles can be very subtle and known only to specialists or very experienced collectors. Case in point: several years ago a very nice copy of the first edition of Hoffmann’s Modern Magic was sold on eBay for a fraction of “the going rate” for first editions of this book. It was a bargain. Why? Because the seller, himself an experienced bookseller, described it as an “early edition” and didn’t know he was selling a first edition. But the buyer who snatched this copy saw the picture of the title page on the eBay listing and was one of the few who knew that a drooping semi-colon after the publisher’s imprint signified a first edition. Because of its obscure nature, this kind of critical information is rarely seen in price guides.

The Dr. Albo Classic Magic With Apparatus series is an excellent source for descriptions of collectible magic. The books do not have prices, but plenty of information of those hard to find items.

Since this thread has been revived, I enjoy downloading the catalogs for magic auctions. These generally have nice photos, along with auction estimates. Live Auctioneers will give the realized selling prices.

I agree that magic auction catalogs are a good source for seeing collectible magic (also, many auction houses have results of past auctions). Another source are collectible magic lists from the past. These range from 20 pages to 50 pages with many black/white photos and prices. Carrandi & Allesi are the best known and I have many of their lists (actually booklets). If interested PM me.

I did not know where to post this information on the only Trade Paper to The Magic Industry. In pertains somewhat to literature on magic collecting. In cleaning out my magic drawers, I found 6 issues of “Gypsy Trader – The Only Trade Paper to The Magic Industry”. They were in black/white newspaper format from the late 1990s and each paper was around 23 pages. The table of contents stated Magician of the month, collector of the month, manufacturer of the month, Gospel Gossip, Collector’s Corner, Magical Happenings, Classified ads, and other topics. Each issue contained many photos. They were issued in Temecula, Ca. and sold for $1.50.