Professional Presentations

Al Koran's repertoire in book form

Professional Presentations brings together routines by Al Koran, written up by Hugh Miller. First published by Harry Stanley in 1967, this English-language book combines mental magic, card work and visual effects with everyday objects. It is worth understanding that range before buying: this is a selection of performance material, rather than a book devoted exclusively to mind reading.

What is inside

The Gold Medallion is one of the collection's best-known pieces. The book also includes a book test and Doodles, involving drawings made by spectators. These provide quite different starting points for a mental routine: a definite prediction, information from a book and images created by participants themselves.

Card material includes Birthday Card Trick, Princess Card Trick Plus and Double Thought. In Double Thought, performer and spectator each locate the other's selected card. The participant consequently shares in the apparent achievement. For someone choosing material for a conversational performance, that change of role offers a different dramatic shape from simply having the magician find a card.

Ring On Stick and The Flying Ring add borrowed-ring magic to the selection. Torn and restored cigarette paper is another of the subjects covered. This variety makes the volume a repertoire collection rather than a progressive course in one branch of magic.

Editions are not interchangeable descriptions

Older Harry Stanley and Supreme editions are catalogued at 132 pages. The Martin Breese edition published in 2009 is an 80-page hardback with a dust jacket. It uses Paul Griffin drawings based on the original photographs and includes a further introduction by Hugh Miller.

A lower page count therefore does not, by itself, indicate missing material. Ask to see the title page and contents rather than identifying an edition from the colour or thickness of its binding. Sellers should describe the actual printing in their possession.

Choosing it for practical study

This book suits readers who want to examine individual Koran routines and decide which belong in their own repertoire. Despite its title, it is not merely a theoretical essay about presentation. Nor should the word professional be taken to mean that every item is immediately performable without preparation or extra equipment. A buyer interested in the medallion routine is buying its explanation; the necessary apparatus is not automatically part of a second-hand book sale.

Buying a used copy

Request photographs of the actual cover, spine, title page and dust jacket if present. Check for loose pages, extensive annotations and the legibility of illustrations. A missing jacket matters to a collector and should be disclosed, while a sound reading copy may be perfectly adequate for studying the routines. Compare the same edition and condition before drawing conclusions from prices.

This catalogue entry describes the work. The language, printing, condition and any accompanying items must be confirmed in the individual seller's listing.