Tarbell Course

The "Tarbell Course in Magic" is comprised of eight volumes. It remains the preeminent encyclopedia of magic amongst professional and amateur magicians. The first five volumes were written in 1928. Dr. Harlan Tarbell only wrote these first five volumes. The remaining three volumes were ascribed to him merely for marketing purposesFact|date=July 2008.

This magic volume series was originally designed as a correspondence course for budding magicians. Once they were collected and bound, the series has become an unparrelled reference standard for every serious magician's library.

Most professional magicians will admit that "The Tarbell Course" was their initial foray into magic and will still refer to it despite their professional accomplishments.

The Structure of the Course

The entire collection comprises more than one-hundred lessons in every aspect of magic including micromagic/close-up magic, escapology, mentalism and stage illusions. It is the most comprehensive literary work in magic history. The original five volumes contained sixty correspondence lessons with more than 3,000 illustrations.

In addition to teaching specific tricks, "The Tarbell Course" also teaches patter, marketing, the history of magic, ethics, advertising, routining, presentation, diction and elocution, magic theory, performance theory, acting, misdirection, timing and showmanship.

Volume 8 of the series was published as a "graduate lesson" in magic.

The History of the Course

Publishers T. Grant Cooke and Walter A. Jordan hoped to produce a correspondence course in magic in the mid-1920s and approached Harlan Tarbell and Walter Baker to work on the project. Baker abandoned the project early on to concentrate on his performances. Tarbell was thus dropped from the project.

Cooke and Jordan then approached Harry Houdini to create the course but he declined while recommending Tarbell. Ultimately, the publishers agreed and offered Tarbell $50,000 for the course.

The series sold 10,000 copies until Cooke and Jordan discontinued it in 1931. In 1941, Louis Tannen purchased the rights to the course and reworked the correspondence lessons into book form and ultimately added three additional volumes.

Tarbell Course Magic Lessons

"Original Volumes 1-5"

# The History of Magic
# The History of Sleight-of-Hand
# Necromancy & Divination
# Development of Superstitions
# Magic & Religion
# Magic & the Science of Medicine
# The Rope & Tape Principle
# The Relations of Magic to Other Sciences
# The Principles of Card Effects
# Confidence & Enthusiasm
# The Penetrating Ring, The Jumping Rubber Band, Thumb Tie with Rubber Band
# The Japanese Thumb Tie
# Cards That Pass in the Night, The Cars up the Sleeve
# The Regular Pass, The Card Stab, The Extremist-Ray Knife, The Magnetic Knife
# The Force, Producing a Card from a Whole Orange, The Card & the Banana
# Guide to Card Positions, Various Principles of Palming & Shifts, The Conjurer's Touch, A Mysterious Discovery, "Marvello," Cards, Envelope & Hat
# "Tack It", New Era Version of card Through Handkerchief, Three Cards Through the Handkerchief, Rising Cards Through Handkerchief
# "Snap It", Flash Card Production, Mystery of the Glass House
# Rising Cards
# The Enchanted Cards & Envelope, Bewitched Rising Cards & Envelope, Rising Cards from Book, A Book & a card, Rising Cards Through Hat, Rising Cards out of a Hat
# How to Please Your Audience, Keeping up with the Times, Making an Impression, Maintain a Healthy Attitude Toward Magic, The Vanishing Wand, King Solomon's Marriage Bands, Arrangement of Programs
# Sleight-of-Hand with Coins
# The Homing Coins, Invisible Money Transit, The Coin in the Magical Envelopes
# The Miser's Dream, The Coin, Envelope & Handkerchief, The Passé Coins & Glasses, The Passé Coins from Hand-to-Hand, the Phantom Coin
# Humpty Dumpty Outdone, The Egg Bag
# I am Saving You Money, Effects with Rabbits
# Simplicity is the Key-Note of the Tarbell System of Magic, The Cut & Restored Ribbon, A card & Ribbon Mystery Ribbon, A Spirit Communication, A Wandering Ribbon
# The Famous Needle Trick, A Thimble Act
# Silks, The Egg, the Glass, & the Handkerchief, The Wandering Handkerchief, The Silk & the Flame, The Candle, the Silk, & the Paper Tube, The Educated Knot
# Divisions of Modern Magic, Unlimited Opportunities in Magic, Specialization, Presentation, Creating of Effects, Experiments of Super Mentality, The Chess Knight's Tour, A Mind Reading Act, The Yogi's Prediction, The X-Ray Cards, Telepathic Pictures
# Making Money with Magic, Wand from Pocketbook, Cigar from Pocketbook, Wand from Card Case, Silk Production from Hat, A Rabbit Traveling Bag, Deluxe Silk Production from Hat, Production of Rabbit from Silks, Chinese Box Vanish for Rabbit
# A Modern Crystal Gazing Act, Rapid Mental Transference, A Good "One Man" Mind Reading Act, Distant Mental Communication, Blindfold Card Reading, A Mystic Discovery
# Your Relation to Other Magicians, Ethics at a Magic Performance, Silk Handkerchief Magic, Mystic Knots, The Dissolving Single Knot, The Speedy Single Knot, The Fade-Away Double Knot, Quick Release Double Knot, Leg Tie & Release with Handkerchief, The Magical Bow Knot, Repeat Handkerchief Vanish, AN Eggs-traordinary Eggs-Planation, A "Sucker" Handkerchief Vanish, A One-Man Handkerchief Vanish, The Sympathetic Silks, Elusive Silks
# Cigarette Magic, The Burning Cigarette & Silk Handkerchief, The Phantom Cigarette, The Vanishing Cigarette, The Dollar Bill in the Cigarette, Catching Cigarettes in the Air, An Odd Cigarette Vanish, Cardini's Floating Cigarette, to Produce Lighted Cigarette from Box
# Twelve Impromptu Effects with Cards
# Sleight-of-Hand with Cards
# More Card Magic, Production of Cards from the Mouth, Cascade Production from Boy's Nose, Easy Methods for Forcing Cards, The Circus Trick, Flase Counting, Four Ace Effects, Card Fountains
# Oriental Magic, Chinese Color-Changing Coins, Chink-a-Chink, The Phantom Knot, The Mystic Knots, Chefalo's Knot, Mysterious Japanese Tie, The Chinese Burning Tapes, Hindu Cut & Restored Turban
# Oriental Magic, Japan-O-Tie, The Mystic Smoke, The Chinese Sticks, The Climbing Balls, The Disappearing Grain, The Hindu Jar of Grain, The Productive Japanese Lantern
# More Handkerchief Magic, The Handkerchief Ball, The Soup Plate & Handkerchiefs, Two Soup Plates & Handkerchiefs, The Twentieth Century Silks, Tarbell's Color Changing Handkerchief, Double Handkerchief Color Change, The Dyeing Handkerchiefs, The Birth of Old Glory
# Character Analysis Related to Magic
# Billiard Ball Manipulation
# The "Clean Cut" Color Changing Handkerchief, The "Vice-Versa" Color Changing Handkerchiefs, Handkerchief to Billiard Ball, The Elusive Rainbow, Spot the Red, Watch the Lemon, The Magic Chocolates, Popping Corn in a Hat, Nursing Bottle from the Hat
# Coat & Hat Productions, Comedy Egg Production, A Master Hat Production, Rabbit Productions, An Unexpected Rabbit Production, Rapid Production of Rabbit from Hat, Silks & the Rabbit, Rabbit Production from Paper Ribbon, Rabbit Production from Gentleman's Coat, A Chicken Produced from Gentleman's Coat, Production of Bottle of Milk or Liquor from Gentleman's Hip Pocket, Changing Rabbit to Box of Candy, Sausages from Boy's Coat
# Chemical & Mechanical Magic, A Novel Transmission of Smoke, Wine & Water, The Wandering Glass & Bottle, A Magical Transformation, A Cooking Lesson, The Welsh Rarebit
# Spiritualistic Magic, The Living & the Dead, Spirit Photography, The Psychic Paper, Spirit Slate Writing, A Parlor Séance
# More Spiritualistic Magic, The Dark Séance at the Table, The Dark Circle, Gysel's Mysterious Lights, Dr. Bridge's Thought Projection, The Siberian Chain Escape, The Cabinet Séance, Another Good Tie, The Throw-Away Coat Tie
# Chinese Linking Rings, Weber's Emergency Routine
# More Oriental Magic, Tarbell's Mysterious Firecrackers, Kolar's Balloon & Silks, Ching-A-Ling Chinese Lantern Production, The Hindu Mango Tree Growth, Tarbell's Hindu Plant Growth, Comedy Flower Growth
# Specialty Chinese Magic, Production of a Large Bowl of Water, Production of Stack of Four Bowls of Water, Chinese Production of the Four Bowls, Production of a Child, Modern Production of Bowl of Water on Table, Chinese Production of Doves, The Mysterious Self-Filling Lota, Ching Ling Foo's Magic Water Can, Mystery of the Paper Ball, Egg, Frog, & Baby Chicken
# The Tarbell Rope Mystery
# Illusions, The Mystery of King Tut, Who & Which
# Building Illusions, Black Art Illusions, The Elusive Hindu, A Daughter of the Sun, The Mystery of the Girl in the Trunk, The Phantom Flight
# Escape & Substitution Illusions, The Substitution Trunk Mystery, The Canvas Box Mystery, The Packing Box Escape, The Paper Bag Escape
# The Black Art Table, The Treasure Chest, The Chinese Pigeon Production, Thayer's Super-Vanish of Doves
# The Egyptian Mummy, The Mystery of the Dancing Girls, The Doll House Illusion
# The Sward Box, The Penetrative Steel Bars, The Indestructible Girl, Sawing a Woman in Half
# The Chinaman, The Ghost & the Cat, The Mystery of The Three Ghosts
# The Phantom of the Circus
# Making the Box Office Pay
# Advertising & Publicity

"Volume 6"
# Novel Ball Magic
# Unique Card Effects
# Novelty Magic
# Rope Magic
# Mind Reading Mysteries
# X-Ray Eyes and Blindfold Effects
# Silk and Rope Penetrations
# Escapes and Substitutions
# Spirit Ties and Vest Turning
# Modern Stage Magic
# Stage Productions
# Magic As Theatre

"Volume 7"
# More Mental Magic
# Card Magic
# Rope Magic
# Novelty Magic
# Money Magic
# Silk Magic
# Illusions
# Miscellaneous Late Arrivals

"Volume 8" - (Tarbell's Graduate Course in Magic)
# Thoughts and Advice
# Further Unique Mysteries
# Magic with Cards
# Oriental Magic
# Magic of the Mind
# Rope Magic
# Chalk Talk Magic
# Magic with Apparatus
# Comedy Magic
# Pantomime Illusions
# Making Magic Pay
# Selling of the Tarbell System