Libros

287 págs.
Binding: hardcover
Format: 30cmx21cm

In the magic world, 52 Lovers, volumes 1 and 2 now enjoy the well-deserved status of modern classic. Sixteen years after their publication, Páginas Publishing is proud to revise this legendary work as "52 Lovers Through the Looking-Glass", consisting of a new, corrected and extended translation of the original books, containing unpublished material previously known only to a few privileged people.

52 Lovers Through the Looking-Glass combines the original two volumes into a single book, and included, for the first time ever, are all the articles that Pepe Carroll published in the Madrid Magic School’s renowned Circular over the course of almost twenty years. In addition, the book includes the description of two of the hardest routines from Carroll’s repertoire, whose secrets have been unknown up to now: his legendary dice routine and the act that won him the first prize in Card Magic in the 1988 FISM Congress that took place in The Hague! Finally, a chapter with examples of Carroll’s famous humor is also included, as well as the artist’s photos and biographical sketches and dedications written by his fellow magicians.

Judging by its scope and the quality of the material it contains, "52 Lovers Through the Looking-Glass" is bound to become a literary classic in the field of Spanish magic. Above all, it aims to be a heartfelt and loving homage paid by Spain’s magic community to one of the greatest figures in the history of Spanish magic. All of them are outstanding because of their subtle methods and rigorous construction. The effects themselves are fascinating and the patter has a unique literary elegance.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Farewell to Pepe Carroll by Juan Tamariz

Goodbye, Adopted Father by Amílkar

Three Photos by Camilo Vázquez

The Madrid Magic School Circular
  • Experiences        
 • The Mandrágora        
 • FISM Brussels 1979        
 • Constructing Card Magic Routines        
 • Mnemonicosis        
 • The Presentation I        
 • Two Tiny Details        
 • The Presentation II        
 • Three Little Things        
 • Seven Travelers, Four cities, One Magic       
 • Seven Travelers II       
 • Seven Travelers III       
 • Leipzig’s Stage Technique        
 • Beauty and Ugliness        
 • One Gaze        
 • Colombia, or the Discovery of America        
 • An Opinion Piece        
 • About Verbal Presentation        
 • The Five Senses        

Prologue to the First Edition of 52 Lovers        

Conflicts        

Transformations
 • Impossible Color Changes        
 • Impossible Transpositions        
 • Reflections        
 • All Backs, or the Creation        
 • Card Pages        

Techniques
 • The Economical Double Lift—and Something More    
 • Handling with Help, or Handy Handlings        

The Ambitious Card
 • The Torn Ambition        
 • The Cardculator        

Triumph
 • Triumph with Fans        

Reds and Blacks
 • Red and Black        
 • Oil and Water in a Wine Glass        

Travels
 • Travelers through the Card Case        
 • The Glass Wall        
 • Flying Aces        

The Unwary Cheater, or the Nine-Card Monte    

Favorites
 • Suit Appearance        
 • Instructions        
 • Cannibals!        
 • Through the Looking-Glass        
 • The Triple Tacker        

Previously Unpublished Routines
 • Poosha D’Poosha        
 • The FISM-winning Act: His Magic Touch!       
 • Gaylord Ravenal, The Dice-Stacking Routine    

Pepe Carroll’s Humor

Intelligence. That’s the first thing you notice when you see, hear, or read José Carroll. An abstract kind of intelligence, sharp and penetrating. (The guy’s so brainy!)
Hard work. That’s the first thing that draws your attention when you see, hear, or read José Carroll. Intense, versatile, and constantly working. (The kid has his nose to the grindstone!)
His hands. They are the first thing you notice when you see José Carroll perform. Long hands, elegant hands, such skillful hands! (Hey, look at them hands!)
What kind of magic would you expect from someone who has talent and nurtures it, keeps working hard, and takes care of his material tools - his own hands?
Exactly. You’ve guessed it, dear reader…
A kind of Magic that is thoroughly rehearsed, constructed intelligently, and magnificently performed. Who could offer more?
But, you see… There’s more to it.
José Carroll has been a professional close-up magician for seven years. He has spent seven years performing almost every day for audiences that like good magic, and know it when they see it: from his performances in El Llantiol (that magic café in Barcelona to which Spanish magic owes so much) to his lectures in the Netherlands, Argentina, and Hollywood’s Magic Castle.
And this mixture of working daily as a professional magician for lay audiences and being in constant contact with other magicians makes his magic both thrilling (there’s mystery, lyricism, elegant humor, very powerful magic effects) and subtle (refined and of a very high quality in technical terms).
What’s more, José Carroll has been touched by the grace of Fortune and Saint Robert-Houdin, and thus matured in the magical atmosphere of Madrid in the ’80s. Nothing less! He is a member of the Madrid Magic School and an avid reader of the Puchol library’s books1 (Praised he be again!) The theoretical and practical milieu of the SEI has helped him to grow tall and healthy, magically speaking (and a little chubby too, although his relations with the scores of female fans force him to take large doses of vitamins).
In my opinion, the theoretical chapter (the ideas stem from his practical experience, they’re not just mere theory) titled CONFLICTS is extremely interesting and provocative, making you think and reflect on it, and of course, it is brilliantly sharp. If you skip it, you’ll know just the half of the real value of this book.
The carefully described routines range from good to excellent (“The Suit Appearance” rates first, closely followed by “Reds and Blacks” and “The Unwary Cheater”—they are three masterpieces. As many as three!) Then, there is also a whole series of effects, ideas, verbal presentations, routines, technical details, and high quality commercial effects (“Through the Looking-Glass”, “Card Pages”, “The Crystal Wall”, “Impossible Color Changes”, and so on).
In a nutshell, this book is the result of serious study, intelligent reflection, and continuous performing for magicians and laymen alike.
My dear reader, let me give you a heartfelt piece of advice: read this book, study the routines, do the tricks, enjoy them, amaze your magician and non-magician friends, and then, as if it had just occurred to you, mention to your circle of magician friends that you discovered someone who will certainly be a magician known worldwide in less than two years. Soon, everyone will be complimenting you on your infinite shrewdness, unless they have heard or read Dai Vernon, who was the first one to make this prediction (a cheeky prediction it is, as it has already come true).

Juan Tamariz