I was pointed to this older publication from threads within the Magic Café.
This was in my attempt to find a reference for the routine for the Farmer and the Witch illusion.

Upon finding it, I was delighted to find a much superior illusion within this book.
Named The Haunted House (by Mark Wison).

A fantastic stage illusion. Ingenious.

Perhaps a dated publicatioon, but a fantastic reference source and inspiration (in my opinion).

WulfieSmith

I think the original _Mark Wilson Course in Magic_ had a leather-like binding and also came with some of the props. But any version of the book is, as wulfiesmith notes, "a fantastic reference source and inspiration." It's a great book for the beginner, with some great routines in it. For those who have just discovered the art of magic, it's a great purchase while waiting to collect all of the books in the Tarbell Course in Magic.

I don't know that I would agree that it is "dated." That seems like a subjective assessment. A good performer can take effects from books published in the 1940's and 1950's and turn them into effective routines for the general public. Vernon's "Twisting the Aces" came out in 1960 in _More Inner Secrets of Card Magic_ and I'd have to think that for magicians who perform for the public (rather than for other magicians), "Twisting the Aces" is still a more powerful effect than any of the variations that came after it.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Unfortunately the Mark Wilson Course in Magic is very underrated. I think it is a great book and deserves more recognition than it keeps getting. Possibly he printed too many copies and saturated the market.
All in all a great read.
Rennie

Yes, the Mark Wilson Course was remaindered and then subdivided into smaller volumes that were also remaindered, such as
_Mark Wilson's Greatest Card Tricks_, _Mark Wilson's Greatest Close-up Magic Tricks_, and _Mark Wilson's Greatest Instant Magic Tricks_.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51......300_.jpg

I hope that at least a few people who picked one up one of the remaindered books at places like Books-A-Million or Barnes and Noble and became seriously bitten by the magic bug.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

I bought the original in '75 through an ad in the SAM mag. Blue naugahyde, spiral binding, signed photo of Mark and Nani, and TONS of stuff to learn. I loved the simplicity of the explanations and drawings were/are outstanding. Like dunderhead I passed it on to an up and coming magician.

But you can get a used hard cover online for about $12. That is less than I originally paid. Still great info.

I always liked the print layout of the Mark Wilson Course--illustrations side-by-side with text. My copy is more a tan naugahyde with a spiral binding rather than blue.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

How many naugahs do you thing they had to skin to make all those covers?

My copy was a black naugahyde with a spiral binding and included props. Not sure how many they had to skin to make them covers, but how many did it take to change a light bulb ?

I do know how appreciative I was when my father bought it for me from Phil Thomas at Yogi Magic Mart back in 78'. I still reference it to this day.

Can someone tell me how this book is "dated", as suggested here? I see this all the time on here. The Wilson book is a treasure of *** good magic that is timeless, not to mention giving a good education on the foundations and fundementals. Why do so many think that anything published more than a couple years ago is outdated?

I posted this several years ago... the original Mark Wilson ad for his course in magic. I thought others might want to see it.

Link to original posting...

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......forum=41

Take care,
Bruce

Yep..I hot the original back in the seventies as well...was my first major magic purchase..and what a great one! Saved my pennies....

This is one of my all-time, favorite books and deserves to be in every serious magicians library!!

Mark.

This is one of the first books that I got on magic. I origionaly found this in my local library and couldn't believe that they would have something this comprehensive as it tips a lot of secrets. The best part about this book is that it helps with both stage and close up magic.

I don't think Wilson is very dated at all. I have recently bought Tarbell 1 & 2 and they make Wilson look very modern indeed! I actually find Wilson easier to follow too.

I recommend the Mark Wilson books along with the Amateur Magician's Handbook and Original Tarbell course to those starting out. The only way I can tell that the Mark Wilson book is starting to get overly dated is the illustrations of the coins. When was the last time you saw a Franklin half dollar?

The Mark Wilson book is also a killer reference book for sponge ball magic. It is what got me really into working with them.

I have many books in my magic library with copyright dates long before _The Mark Wilson Course in Magic_ was published and they are not "dated." Some of the patter may be dated, but the basic effects are still worth doing. Many times one magician may tweak an old trick from a book or magazine and present it in a venue where other magicians see it--and he blows them away! Mark Wilson, Doug Henning and David Copperfield are good examples of magicians who took "standard catalog effects" or tricks from a book now and then and turned them into crowd pleasers. I'm sure there are others, like Paul Romhany and Levent, to name only two.

Most of Vernon's work will never be dated. Gene Anderson's Newspaper Tear will never be dated. The Linking Rings (done well) will never be dated, and that's been around for centuries, if not millennia.

You know the old saying "The oldest trick in the book"
Well, whatever it is, that one won't be dated either!
;-)

----- Sonny
I'm trying to remember. Wasn't it David Copperfield who took the Dedi trick of ripping off a goose or duck's head and restoring it--and tweaked it into a great trick for one of his specials? Now that trick was _old_! But it wasn't "dated."

There must be many more examples of tricks from "old" magic books and other old tricks that were tweaked by magicians of insight into masterpieces.
(BTW, the following thoughts may be more appropriate in another Café forum. Is there a forum for "Inventing Magic"?)

Here are a few more "tweaked tricks" that come to my mind (and please let me know if I err in any of my attributions):
Gene Anderson tweaked Al Koran's Newspaper Tear (published in Ganson's _Routined Manipulations, Part I_, copyright: 1950) into THE newspaper tear. And Gene's newspaper tear has in turn been tweaked by others.
Norm Nielsen tweaked Joe Karson's zombie and came up with his Floating Violin. (Zombie was tweaked by a _lot_ of people!)
Bob Carver tweaked a Hen Fetsch rope routine and came up with The Professor's Nightmare (which in turn has been tweaked itself).
I don't know who invented Chink-a-Chink, but Boy, has _it_ been tweaked!
Harry Lorayne tweaked Paul Curry's "Out of This World" into "Out of This Universe!"
Frank Garcia tweaked a Peter Kane routine published in _Hugard's Magic Monthly_ and came up with "Wild Cards."
The "Four Ace Trick" may hold the record for tweaks!
Buatier de Kolta's original multiplying ball trick was tweaked into our current "Multiplying Billiard Balls."
Doug Henning on one of his early specials used an old, children's book trick with a balloon and pin and fooled everybody who knew Needle Thru Balloon by sticking the needle in the side of the balloon instead of from end to end.
And who was it who tweaked "Passe-Passe Bottle and Glass" into "Multiplying Bottles"?

Okay. I've provided a few examples of tricks/routines from books or magazines that were tweaked into something special and new!
Certainly someone else can provide more!

----- Sonny

I think almost every magician has owned this book at one point, I've had two I can say so far. Wonderful book!

"Perhaps a dated publication (in my opinion)" ...
I used the words with no disrespect, merely as reference to an old publication. Perhaps a poor term of phrase on my part.

I am pleased to stand corrected, and very pleased it has such a healthy following.
Rightly so.

I can pick up this masterpiece at any time, and always find something new to interest me, and my grandson.
This publication has everything.

Highly recommended ...