Glenn Gilmore Gravatt

Thayer Quality Magic Catalog Instruction Sheets Volume Three

Magic Limited, Lloyd E. Jones (1979)

Hardcover

312 pages | USA | English

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Genre

Conjuring

Subject

Magic tricks - Instructions

Plot

Gravatt, Glenn: Thayer Quality Magic Catalog Instruction Sheets Volume Three
©1979 Magic Limited, Lloyd E. Jones
Hardcover, 324 pages

Thayer Magic Catalog Instruction Sheets Gravatt price per book 40.00 - 100.00

Thayer Quality Magic Catalog Instruction Sheets

Complete 4 Volume Set, Compiled By Glenn Gravatt
Published by Magic Limited, Lloyd E. Jones, Oakland, CA
6.00" x 9.00" x 1.25" 8vo Hardbound in cloth with original pictorial dust jackets 1282pp
Illustrated with line drawings and a few photographs

Glenn Gravatt had the good fortune to acquire a complete set of Thayer instruction sheets designed to accompany their magic apparatus

Gravatt's is believed to be the only collection of Thayer secrets in existence

These are the Lloyd Jones first edition not the Lee Jacobs reprints with the paperback Volume One

Volume One contains 322pp and covers tricks with cards, balls, dice, escapes, flowers, stage illusions, liquids/glasses/bowls, livestock-doves, miscellaneous, money, productions, silks, spiritualist & mental effects

Volume Two contains 324pp and covers tricks with balls, tricks with birds, etc., cards, dice, eggs, escapes, flowers, stage illusions, liquids, money, parlor & stage effects, rings, rods & pillars, silks, slates, spiritualist & mental effects

Volume 3 contains 312pp and covers tricks with balls, cards, cigarettes, escapes, glasses/bowls/bottles, illusions, money, parlor & stage effects, pocket tricks, productions, silk color changes, vanishes, spiritualistic & mental effects, tables, thimbles, torn & restored effects

Volume Four contains 324pp and covers Afghan bands, card magic, cards with apparatus, cigarette magic, club & stage magic, dice, divinations, floating, livestock, matches, money, penetrations, pocket/parlor/close-up, silk color changes, silks - productions, silks-misc., spiritualistic effects, tables, torn & restored + a cumulative index

An excellent read and a first class resource for collectors, apparatus builders and magic aficionados!

Credits

Illustrator	Illustration, b/w

Personal

Owner	Bryan-Keith Taylor
Location	Magic Library (Home)
Index	4541
Added Date	Jul 01, 2017 03:06:49
Modified Date	Apr 06, 2026 14:22:24

Value

Book Condition	Very Fine

Notes

Gravatt, Glenn G.
(1899-1984)
Glenn Gravatt became interested in magic as a child growing up in Kansas. At the age of 8 years he was already demonstrating magic for his friends and family. From Kansas, he went to California, where he worked as a newspaper reporter. He wrote " Encyclopedia of Self Working Card Tricks" (2 volumes, 1936 and 1937; later published under the byline of Jean Hugard under the title " Encyclopedia of Card Tricks." In writing the "Jap Box Tricks" in 1937, Gravatt effectively named this box for all time.

Invented: Extratour, Rope Appear, Visible Silk on Rope Appearance, Flying Silk and Ropes, Visible Rope and Ring Penetration, Rope-Silk-Bracelet Combination, Coat-Rope-Rings, No Clue Divination (1977),Five Cube Divination (1977), Psychic Spot (1976), Thimble Fantasy (1960), Card and Dagger (1956), Spooky Paper (1945), Multiple Match (1956), Magical Horse Race (1956), Percepo (1960), Close-up Cup Suspension (1958), The Antique Medallion, Color Ring Transpo, The Mystery of the Seven Veils, Super Penetration, Tube to Cigarettes, Color Riddle, 20th Century in Reverse, Ideal Solid Thru Solid, Dual Silk Production, Kondax (1921).
Compiled: Thayer Quality Magic Volumes 1-4 (1978-1981), Encyclopedia of Self-Working Card Tricks (1936-37)

Wrote: 50 Modern Card Tricks, 50 More Modern Card Tricks, Gold Mine of Magic, Jap Box Tricks (1937)

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Thayer, Floyd G.
(1877-1959)
Born in Jacksonville, Vermont, Thayer moved to California with family in 1891. Thayer was a builder of fine magic props and illusions that were prized by magicians the world over, and still are (as antiques and collectables) today. At his residence, studio and Magic Theatre, located at 929 So. Longwood Ave., Los Angeles, CA, the magicians of the world gathered to meet, socialize and create magic.
Invented: Commando, Color Changing Billiard Ball, Diminishing Billiard Ball, Billiard Ball Stand, Banner Nest of Boxes, Talking Buddah, Rice Orange and Checkers, Reappearing Clock, The Headless Lady Illusion, Reincarnation.
Both Carl and Henry Owen got their start as illusion builders at Thayer's. William Larsen purchased the Thayer house and studio in 1942.
Published the Magic Bulletin.
Jay Leslie remembers: "Thayer was manufacturing puzzles out of wood. He drove into the desert and collected various species to give his puzzles a unique look. He also did not use a 'Tracer' lathe; in other words, all of the billiard balls were cut on the lathe, by eye and caliper measurements. Jim Swoger told me that,on one visit, Floyd cut a perfectly round ball and put the lines in it, taking him around three minutes, without measuring anything."