Here are my initial impressions from a brief look last night.

In a word WOW!!!

Any initial doubts I had about spending this amount of money were instantly dispelled. An amazing piece of work.

1) Incredibly well packed: outer shipping carton, inner 'plastic' cushioning round further cardboard carton, inside this carton book enclosed in thick cardboard slip case. Pack of cards enclosed too.

2) Quick look at the cards (felt bad removing the cellophane and slicing the seal): Bicycle cards with a wide variety of gimmicks (including items requiring construction) - many happy hours ahead!

3) First flick through the book - simply amazing. Very high production values. Beautiful 'art' paper, lavishly illustrated, many tricks. (The book quality reminded me of the larger Taschen books). The only addition I would have asked for would be a ribbon to keep the place but that is minor!

This is certainly an item to treasure, with a wide range of material to peruse. I suspect something like this won't be reprinted quickly - so if you want one - get it soon.

A full review is a good while away as it will take some time to read this and do it justice but both as magic lover and a book lover, I am delighted with it. Although it may seem expensive, think of those poorly edited , slim magic books that sell for 30 - 50 dollars/pounds and this shows its value.

Highly recommended.

Is it more biography or tricks?

Vastly more tricks than biography (from a first flick through ).

I hope to look more at it tonight.

Ah. Shame.

will check how much biography tonight because at 600 odd pages there will still be a reasonable amount and the book is beautifully produced with an incredible array of photos etc

Checked my copy - every time I open it I think WOW! again. The biographical material is distributed throughout the book as it laid out in a timeline of his tricks. It would be difficult to give a percentage (perhaps Mr Kaufman could) without reading it. However, I would reiterate, it is hard to imagine someone with a (broad) love of magic being in any way disappointed with this. It is an outstanding piece of work and obviously a labour of love by Mr Kaufman.

It looks wonderful and I almost impulse bought it because of that. But I have zero interest in tricks, so if they are the bulk of the contents then this one isn't for me.

If you have no interest in tricks then it certainly isn't for you - anyone with an interest in the origin, development and sheer scope of the tricks produced be Deland (which have resulted in many of the ones we know and use today) will be well satisfied by this.

Bicycle Rider Back faces and backs?

Yes to both - to be used in conjunction with e regular red-backed Bicycle rider Deck.

Wow. Thanks. That's a big plus.

Thanks very much for the kind words.

The book is written in an unusual way, in that the biographical material is interwoven among the tricks. All content, both biography and tricks, is in chronological order.

Even if you are not interested in the tricks themselves, it's fascinating to see DeLand inventing new principles in magic.

And, no, I don't think this book will be reprinted. It cost way too much! And now that there's a high tariff on items coming from China, I would have to raise the price of the book by 25% if it was reprinted.

Just got this today - in my initial look though the Devil's Own Trick appears to be misprinted? I can make it work with 8 cards, but not with all 10.

The 3 spot and the 9 spot are "identical twins" so I am guessing the 3 spot is wrong. And the 8 spot "says it's own name" (I am speaking in code)

I seem to have the same problem. A couple of the cards don't have the right 'indcators'.

So a little more digging and the GAFFS for Contrario and NOX EM ALL can't be done with the gaffs included.

Also, the effect Edward's Canadian Wonder trick #15 on page 103 seems to be a repeat of the CINCH card trick #14

But since most of these gaffs are pretty common it would be easy to steal gaffs from other sets/decks to make this work. Full review coming soon of the BOOK and ALL 3 decks !!!!

Any response from Richard Kaufman to the problems with the gaffs provided? (maybe the problems can be resolved?)

The cards for The Devil's Own Trick were misprinted (a combination of mistakes by various people including myself). Nothing can be done at this point. Sorry.

In my haste to create a list of tricks that could be done with the included deck, I mistakenly listed a few tricks that use the same type of gaffs, but do not have the correct cards on them. Another mistake.

As this was my first time creating a gimmicked deck, it was far more complex than I thought. There was a great deal of pressure to get it done quickly so it would be ready when the books came from China (because the decks had to be loaded one at a time into the individual boxes in which the books came).

But the "Cinch Card Trick" by DeLand is not the same as "Edward's Canadian Wonder." True, they use exactly the same set of four double-ended cards, but the tricks are different.

Book Review - Mystery and Madness by Kaufman & Co. and Theodore DeLand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opyIEr8GVs8

(and I briefly review the decks as well)

Enjoyed the review - except you don't mention the misprinting of some of the cards that come with it and as a result some of the tricks can't be performed (you usually make a point of mentioning the 'negatives')_