The Magician's Own Book, or, the Whole Art of Conjuring / Being a complete hand-book of parlor magic, and containing over one thousand optical, chemical, mechanical, magnetical, and magical experiments, amusing transmutations, astonishing sleights and subtleties, celebrated card deceptions, ingenious tricks with numbers, curious and entertaining puzzles, together with all the most noted tricks of modern performers.

by George Arnold; Frank Cahill

In fearless youth we tempt the height of arts."

An almost endless source of amusement, combining at the same time a considerable amount of instruction, may be obtained in the following manner. Take a card or piece of pasteboard, or even stiff paper, and draw upon it the form of an egg—an oval in outline. The dimensions of the oval are immaterial, and the experimenter may suit his own fancy in this respect. With a stout needle, or tracing point, prick quite through the outline, for the purposes of tracing. Some of our readers may be unacquainted with the mode of tracing an outline, and it may be advisable to particularize one method among many. Having pricked out the oval upon the card, get a little red or black lead, powdered, and placing the card upon apiece of drawing paper—any white paper will however do—rub it over the pricked-out oval, which will be found to be transferred to the white paper beneath, thus:

The powder may be applied either with a piece of wool or wadding, or by means of a dry camel's-hair pencil; care should be taken not to let the tracing-powder get beyond the edge of the pricked card, as in that case a soiled, dirty appearance is given to the tracing. The pierced card will serve, if carefully done, for hundreds of tracings, and it is obviously the best plan to take a little extra pains with that in the first instance.

With this traced oval for a basis, (a little further on we shall speak of other figures, to be used singly or in combination with each other) any one with a very little skill will be able to form an infinite number of objects.

The best drawing tool will be found to be an ordinary black lead pencil.

Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are very easy results, suggestive also of others. The rules of procedure are the same in all. Leaving the traced-out oval at first in its dotted form, with the pencil you draw a horizontal line as the basis of your figure. Let this and the other lines, which serve merely as the scaffolding of your figure, be done faintly or in dots. Next, draw a line through the center of the oval and perpendicular to the first. These will ensure your making the object square and properly balanced. After this you may draw lines parallel to the others: but these are not so material, although they serve as guides.

Now the imagination and fancy may step in to produce forms having the oval for a foundation; and not only is a very rational source of amusement opened out, but the opportunity is given to a cultivation of the noble art of design, whether as applied to utility or ornament.