An iconic book set available again in limited quantities.
Mike Caveney Wonders & The Conference Illusions is a one-of-a-kind project that took five years of dedicated hard work from Mike Caveney. This gorgeous two book set features more than 700 pages filled with basically everything Caveney's ever performed during his career. You get to see a lifetime's worth of creating and refining in one amazing collection. As he's also a book collector himself, both books have been carefully crafted to be as beautiful as possible.
Caveney shares the methods, theory, history, and funny stories about each routine. To ensure you walk away knowing every detail, he even enlisted the help of Hollywood special effects man Bill Taylor to capture the perfect photos. The duo turned Caveney's basement into a photo studio and spent fourteen months capturing the clearest explanation photos you'll ever find in a magic book. Both books are also printed in color to ensure every tiny detail is perfectly visible.
"I rank these volumes with Hoffman, Vernon, Baker, Germain, Harbin, Jarrett, and Steinmeyer. They are completely innocent of any kind of bullshit. You put into print in easy-to-follow language everything I need to understand the material. You tell great stories. You make me laugh. You think deeply, wisely, wittily about magic. These books are rich in important ideas and suffused with a profound love of (and respect for) the art. They inspire me." Teller
Volume 1 - Mike Caveney: Wonders
Volume I is called Mike Caveney Wonders and it contains all of the routines that he has performed going back to his days as a teenage magician in the Long Beach Mystics right up to his current act that includes Magic Paper, The Bow, Arrow and Scissors, Coat, Silverware, and Chicken.
This is much more than a simple how-to book. Mike Caveney Wonders was created to both teach and encourage the readers how to develop original routines.
Caveney describes the creative process behind each routine. For example, he explains all five methods for Magic Paper (the torn, restored and animated toilet paper), including a detailed discussion of why each one was discarded until he got to the version he's stuck with for three decades.
- 9 by 11.5 inches
- 256 pages printed in full color on heavy art matte paper
- 330 photographs
- Foreword by Jim Steinmeyer
- Printed end- sheets
- 2-color foil stamping on the cover
Contents of Mike Caveney Wonders:
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Preface
- The Long Beach Mystics
- Giant Thimble Production
- The Substitution Barrel
- Trade Show Act
- Amazing Mechanical Merlin
- Split Deck
- Crystal Card Catch
- Anverdi Key Chest
- Jumping Straw
- The Nailed Card
- The Benson Plunger
- Two, One, None
- Coin Vanish
- Our Own Worst Enemy
- Money Machine
- Impromptu Linking Coat Hangers
- Linking Coat Hangers
- Lubor Die
- Lie Detector
- Halloween Card Stab
- The Phome Book
- Idiot Rings
- The Powers of Darkness
- Impromptu Powers of Darkness
- Serious Laughter
- Chinese Pipes
- Nind Reading
- Ten Dollar Bill Trick
- Bill in Cigar
- 3-Arm Juggling
- Coffee Juggling
- Magic Paper
- Bow & Arrow
- Scissors, Coat, Silverware & Chicken
- Billy's Chicken Trick
- The Chicken Chronicles
- Mastering the Ceremonies
Volume 2 - The Conference Illusions
Volume II is called The Conference Illusions and it is a completely different type of book. During the past twenty-two years Mike Caveney has recreated a number of long-forgotten tricks and illusions for the Los Angeles Conference on Magic History and each one posed its own unique challenges. In some instances he had the original apparatus that once belonged to Howard Thurston or Charles Carter and other times the equipment had to be built from scratch.
The book chronicles the research into the history of the illusion, the original routines, how he attempted to improve the mechanics of the apparatus, re- think the presentation and design a routine that was suitable for a modern audience. After their debut performance at the History Conference a number of these effects were presented dozens of times for lay audiences at the Magic Castle and were found to be highly effective a hundred or more years after their creation.
Each chapter includes vintage photographs and posters from the files of the Egyptian Hall Museum as well as behind-the-scenes and action photos or the performances. Few readers will add any of these mysteries to their acts but there is much to be learned from studying ideas that were created by the greatest minds from magic's Golden Age.
- 9 by 11.5 inches
- 256 pages printed in full color on heavy art matte paper
- 330 photographs
- Foreword by Jim Steinmeyer
- Printed end- sheets
- 2-color foil stamping on the cover
Contents of The Conference Illusions
- Foreword
- Introduction
- Magic's Golden Age
- 1993 Dante's Sawing a Lady in Half
- 1999 Selbit's Bricks
- 1999 Through the Eye of a Needle
- 2001 The Million Dollar Mystery
- 2003 OH! Chair
- 2005 Del Adelphia Egg Bag
- 2007 The Astral Hand
- 2009 The Drum That Can't Be Beaten
- 2009 Well I'm!
- 2011 The Orson Welles Act
- 2013 The Spirit Cabinet
"This is the finest set of books I have ever owned. This is the finest thing in magic that I have ever owned. An absolute bargain and a must read." Steve Bryant, Little Egypt
"Your books arrived today and I've not been able to put them down! The only way i can describe your books is pure beauty." Al Rudge
"As a fellow bibliophile I love books that show how much the publisher cares about the material. Your books set a new standard." Samuel Lamerson
"A magnificent achievement in every respect. Congratulations." Stephen Minch
"Mr. Caveney's new 'Wonders & The Conference Illusions' is truly astonishing. This is magic at its very best: wonderfully-crafted, thought- provoking material in a set that's simply stunning. This is one of those very rare occasions in magic in which the material in question far exceeded my expectations. I really can't recommend this set of books highly enough --- it's an absolute must-have for anyone who takes the art of magic seriously. Period." Daniel Ulin "I've spent half a day with your new books, and to state the obvious: You have done a glorious thing. The thought, skill, good taste, and joy that radiate from your efforts is palpable." David Regal
"Superb in every aspect of content and production. Congratulations on a phenomenal job."Paul Daniels
"If you want to know more about how to construct brilliant magic and routines, you must get Mike's new books! Few people in the world understand magic the way the Cave does." John Carney