I discovered _Illustrated Magic_, the English edition of Ottokar Fischer's _Das Wunderbuch der Zauberlunst_,--back in 1962. Since Barrows Mussey/Henry Hay had translated Fischer's book into English, I speculated that the hands showing card and coin sleights were Mussey's hands. The hands in both books looked the same. However...

Today an original 1929 German copy of _Das Wunderbuch der Zauberlunst_ arrived in the mail, and except for an acknowledgement to Arnold Schalita for I guess taking the photos, I don't see any credit for who posed for the photos. Since Mussey was born in 1910, if my math is correct, he would have been 19 years old when the book was published.

Does anyone know who _did_ pose for the photos of sleights/flourishes in _Das Wunderbuch der Zauberlunst_?

When I visited with Mussey as his house guest in 1972 and 1974, I didn't get around to asking him about either _Illustrated Magic_ or _The Amateur Magician's Handbook_.

One curious note: The photograph of hands making a pressure fan on page 136 of _Das Wunderbuch der Zauberkunst_ show the deck being bowed with the thumb and fingers along the long edges of the cards. Hay's description of the pressure fan in _The Amateur Magician's Handbook_ say to bow the deck with the thumb and fingers along the short edges of the deck. He did not provide any photos of the pressure fan in _The Amateur Magician's Handbook_

Thanks for any answers/information.

I might try also asking this question on the Magischer Klub Wien facebook page.

Magical regards,
Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

I am seem to recall that Fischer himself posed for some of the photos. Can't remember where I heard that though. Still one of the great books in magic. I have seen some videos of Fischer working but have not had a chance to compare the hands.