While the first book of the "locked book" series by Will Goldston has been reprinted in mass quantities in paperback, this book does not suffer from the same overexposure. This extensive magical work is divided into 10 parts. Parts 1 and 2 cover pocket and small apparatus tricks. “A New Card Box” adds function and complexity to the old style box with a loose flap that “every school boy knows.” “The Ubiquitous Rabbit” is a sort of rabbit die box , however, instead of the sucker routine the rabbit is shown to move from side to side and the two doors and opened and closed. “The Orange Box” involves 6 separate wood pieces show to be innocent and assembled to form a box. A long hat pin is place through two home running through the box and uopn opening a previously vanished orange appears impaled upon the pin.
Part 3 contains “Anti-Spiritualistic Tricks in which the effects are apparently produced by some secret, mystical power, apart from that which the performer puts forth.” One effect is the “Talking Skull” which permits examination but then magically the mouth moves to apparently answer questions from the audience. A rapping hand, spirit cabinet, and various other unique tricks round out this section.
“Platform and Stage Tricks” are covered in part 4. “The Watch and the Nest of Boxes” is a unique method using a specially prepared table to do the tricky work. “The Clock Trick” is the classic where the large hand is placed on the clock and stops at the position chosen by an audience member and as Goldston puts it “the secret, like all good magical secrets, is perfectly simple.” In “The Travelling Doves” the apparatus handles transposition quite effectively. “The Flying Goldfish” involves another livestock transposition using two fishbowls separated by a sheet of glass. “Novel Production of Two Plants” is accomplished using the special table and a cone. “The Floating Skull” using a lighter than air principle to get this one off the ground. For those seeking a little danger, “A Good Shot” involves firing a gun through a sheet of glass unharmed but breaking the plate behind it. “A New Table for the Glass of Water Through Hat” allows for the illusion of a hat slowly penetrating a glass of water covered by a handkerchief. An alternate table design is also given as is a similar trick using a non-trivially gimmicked tray rather than a table. Several mechanical rising card methods are included as well including tremendously complicated any card called for rises from the deck. Two ink transpositions are included one using a tumblers separated by a glass plate and the other larger effect using glass bowls set on opposite side of the stage. “How to be a Lightening Artist” is where art appears in an instant from a blank canvas and an empty frame. The section concludes with Okito’s “New Card Frame”, a card restoration and mechanical marvel.
Part 5 includes six “Elaborate Stage Tricks” which are larger stage effects designed to be sandwiched in between illusions. “Air Balloons from an Empty Hat” and “A Different Floating Ball” both involve the use compressed air being piped under the magician’s clothing. “The Impossible?” is the penetration of a rabbit through a solid mirror. “The Ducks in Cage” is a complete production of livestock inside a cage from a thin platform. A large “Obedient Ball” rolls up a plank defying the laws of physics. A hollow “Barrel of Wine” is tapped to produce an abundance of beverages for all.
“Chinese Tricks” is the subject of part 6 and includes some methods of the traditional large body loads including a small dog kennel complete with dog. Also several spouting water tricks from bowls, fans, and even the magician’s head are explained. “Two Production Boxes” by Okito remains as one of the cleverest production methods ever devised for the stage magician. Another Okito original, “The Invisible Journey of a Dove”, involves the vanish of a dove from a hanging fall-apart box which appears instantly in a empty glass casket. “The Mandarin’s Dream” is attributed to Theodore Bamberg (a.k.a Okito) and is an illusion where a tea chests are load into a Chinese cabinet and then change places with a man.
Part 7 contains tips and advice including apparatus such as billiard ball stands, black art tables, flash pots, fire bowls and many other useful items such as a changing tray. “Thayer’s Improved Handkerchief Frame” is also explained and recommended while Goldston take credit for being the first to introduce the basic effect. “The Crystal Die Casket” is similar and yet a vast improvement over the standard die through hat effect such as P&L’s Phantom Cube. This improved version allows for the die to be visible on 3 sides of casket (as opposed to 1) after it is stolen away and the vanish takes place visibly in an instant.
“Comedy Tricks” comprised part 8 and includes some apparatus and humorous illusions. A comedy sawing in two illusion has the top half of the man popping out of his casket while legs in the second half flip straight up in the air. A gun that shoots carrots, eating goldfish, and a suitcase the instantly converts to baby in a basinet are some of the other attempts at humor.
Part 9 is an extensive section of 34 illusions spanning over 100 pages. As one might expect from this time period, some of these illusions rely on stage traps although most do not A number of escapes are covered including a “Perfect Packing Case Mystery”, “The Canvas Cabinet”, “Escape from Box and Cabinet” and “Escape from an Iron Cage.” “The Elements” is a transposition of a woman who vanishes from a wire cage in a burst of flames and appears across the stage in a suspended tank of water. “The Hammock Illusion” is an appearance of foilage, a fountain, and woman relaxing in a hammock from an otherwise bare looking, covered platform. “The Lady and the Dominoes” is a transposition of a lady and set of giant dominoes. A number of illusions from Chung Ling Soo are included such as “The Crystal Casket ” and “The Fire Balloon” illusions which both involve the appearance of a woman in mid-air. “The Victory Illusion” is another appearance, which uses a drawer box principle for part of the concealment. “The Production of a Cage with a Woman inside it in a small Curtained Cabinet” is self-explanatory and also self-contained. “Chefalo’s Cabinet” is also a self-contained appearance inside an oriental looking pagoda cabinet. “The Iron Chest Production” is the appearance of the chest and upon its opening a woman is revealed inside. Two levitation illusions and an “Escape in Mid-Air” conclude this section.
The final section, Part 10, covers automata and ventriloquism. It covers such as a walking figure for the ventriloquist who wants a figure that can walk, smoke, smile, wink, and talk. Other ideas for figures, heads, and faces are also included. “The Sketching Automaton” is where someone is invited to a celebrity from a list of names and the mechanical marvel proceeds to draw it.