1.Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic-Mark Wilson
2.The Amateur Magician's Handbook-Henry Hay
3.Now You See It,Now You Don't(1st & 2nd)-Bill Tarr
4.The Magic Book-Harry Lorayne
5.Royal Road To Card Magic-Hugard & Braue
6.Card College-Roberto Giobbi
7.The Amazing Book of Card/Magic Tricks-Jon Tremaine
8.The Art of Magic and Sleight of Hand-Nicholas Einhorn
9.Pactical Mental Magic-Theo Annemann
10.Modern Coin Magic-JB Bobo
11.The Tarbell Course in Magic-Harlan Tarbell/Harry Lorayne

All these books are brilliant.Some books tent to focus on showmanship and others sleight of hand/technique.Almost all magicians have these books,so if you are starting out give a few of these book a go.
Andre

One book I haven't seen listed is "Pure Magic" by Henry Gross, which is an excellent introduction to sleight of hand with various objects.

OK... depending on the beginner I think that card college is the best book for learning sleight of hand card magic... it is hard but it is fantastic. It was my first book and I work like every night of the week now professionally so ican vouch for it as a god work for beginners.

Classic Secrets of Magic by Bruce Elliott has some excellent routines with various objects including dice, cards, paddles, and coins. Some of the stuff is better suited for stage-type work, but a lot of it is good for closeup work.

"Magic for Dummies" really is a good book. As much as I didn't like the series (nothing like carrying a big yellow book out of a store announcing to the world that you are a dummy), it is a fantastic book! It introduces many concepts on a very basic level. I'd highly recommend it for people new to magic.

Thanks for the recommendation, I already have the tarbell volumes but I bought Mark Wilson's today! Cheers all!

I just borrowed Mark Wilson's book from the library last week because of the topic. I must say that this is a great book and gives the beginning magician a taste of what magic is all about. I highly recommend this book to any beginner!

I though The Royal Road to Card Magic was a helpful book, my friend learned some neat tricks from it.

Completely in agreement. This is really the book (I remember they were 3 books some 15 years ago..) that helped. I have to recommend it.
/Andrea

Royal Road to Card Magic
Modern Coin Magic

And my favorite:

The Amateur Magicians Handbook. It contains material of many levels, and will take you from beginner to intermediate. After 4 years, I still refer to this book from time to time.

Shane Wiker

My favorite book to learn was Harry Lorayne's Close-Up card magic. Excellent teaching, excellent book, exellent everything. There is no substitute.

-Joel

Anybody have any suggestions as to a good book on building props/illussions? Thanks.

Intermediate?Have you tried some of the coin moves?Advanced,if you ask me.This is a very good book,that can be studied very many years.
:)
ANDRE

1)mark wilsons complete course in magic
2)jean hugard's royal road to card magic
3)harry lorayne's The magic book

Wonderful list of reference material - thanks everyone! I'm brand new to the world of magic and so I have just started building my library. I 've started out with the full (now 5 volume set) of Giobbi's "Card College" (I understand volume 6 is one the way!), and Bobo's "Modern Coin Magic".

Someone over at the Genii forum suggested that I also get myself a copy of "The Secret Art of Magic" by Eric Evans and Nowlin Craver.

This book is based on Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" (written over 2,400 years ago!) and draws on the many parallels and comparisons between performing magic and performing war. "The Secret Art of Magic" is comprised of two sections, essentially two books: "Street Magic & The Art of War" and "The Secret Art of Dispersion". Separate, yet inextricably linked by the paradigm of ancient war strategy.

Here's a blurb on the book:

"Using an ancient Chinese manuscript of 36 strategies for deception in warfare, "The Secret Art of Dispersion" teaches a new and expanded approach to misdirection—dispersion. Based on the military concept of dispersing concentration, it not only encompasses the concept of directing/misdirecting attention, but unifies all the ways magicians control their audience's awareness—not just of what they see, but of what they think about (and conversely, and perhaps more importantly, what they don't think about). While misdirection is usually thought of as a tool just for sleight of hand or manipulation, The Secret Art of Dispersion uses a plethora of examples to show the applications of dispersion with apparatus, illusions, stand-up, doves, mentalism, and children's magic as well."

Is this book a little "too much information" for a beginner, or is this "just what the doctor ordered" for someone just starting off?

Thoughts? Comments?

( Get more info on the book here:
http://www.secretartofmagic.com/ )

I agree with many of you that Mark Wilson’s book is a great first choice. My vote for a close second is Nicholas Einhorn’s Practical Encyclopedia of Magic (I think this is the same book as the one Andre Combrinck posted). It’s really a fantastic book for beginners.

Royal road to card magic is my favorite!

I was a little surprised to see that nobody has mentioned S.W. Erdnase's "Expert at the Card Table", or is that even more advanced than the Card College series ?
(I don't own it myself)
Or did I miss a reference to it ?

One really good book that got me interested when I was very young was the Golden Book of Magic, by Clayton Rawson. Probably long out of print, but I still have it.
I also had a paperback called "spooky magic" (or similar), I wish I could find that. Not broad in terms of tutoring, of course, but very entertaining, and you want to keep beginners interested and entertained, lest they'll give up on it and move on to something else, like Extreme Tiddly Winks.

Nicholas Einhorn's book is fantastic. It has really helped me, as an adult returning to my childhood hobby, to get a taste of the magic art. The photography is superb.

There are simple tricks and routines, but there are several real stunners that I use as a regular part of my show. I think the book has really helped me try out different routines and decide what to purchase and what to pursue more deeply.

Jesse