The Crowning Miracles

Plot

Lewis, Eric: The Crowning Miracles
©1983 Eric Lewis, Magical Publications, Pasadena, CA
Hardcover, w/dj, 8x10", 237 pages

Comments: The third and final volume of the Miracles Trilogy. The trilogy includes: 1) A Choice of Miracles (magic up to 1939); 2) A Continuation of Miracles; and 3) The Crowning Miracles.

Contents (courtesy Martin's Magic)

11 Publisher’s Note
12 Introduction (John Booth)
13 Foreword

15 I Peace-Imperfect Peace

18 II Some “Magikraft” Magic
18 Suprinso
21 The Pin-Up Girl
23 A Color-Forcing Paddle
24 Repeat Coin Trays
27 Come-Back Card Comedy
29 A “Slate” Mistake
30 The Carl Fleming Pip Fluid
30 The Harbin-Lewis Trick
31 The Mystery of the Crystal Ring

35 III The “Modern Entertainment” Series
35 Who Done It?
39 A Lesson in Card Magic
42 Lexicography
43 A “Sloppy” Shuffle
43 The Data Prompter

45 IV Magikraft Magic For Children
46 School or Circus?
49 Pieces of Eight
51 The Pirate’s Chest
54 Solid Chuff-Chuff
58 Eric Wilson and “Brer Rabbit”
60 Consequences

65 V Masterpieces Of Nature
66 Michael Chick
67 The Die Table
68 Edward Pearce
69 The Beatles Forever
71 Wilfred Tyler
74 Abdul’s Fez
78 Eric (Nitwit) Williams
79 Burnt Just Chance
82 Jack Woodward
85 The Mystery of the Dancing Clogs
87 Ivan Fowler
88 The Weird Cylinders of Wung and Wong
90 Goodliffe the Magician

95 VI What’s In A Name?
The Wonderful Name of Lewis
The Tumbling Name Blocks
The Name Grabber
Loopy-Loo
Red or Black?

109 VII The Great Zonzo
109 The Termination of Magikraft
110 A Return to Photography
110 Leicester
111 “Devero” and a Lightning Calculator
112 A Magical Revue
113 Holiday Camps
114 Fogel
115 The Great Zonzo - The Act

119 VIII I Go Mental
120 Premonition
121 My Newspaper Headline Prediction
124 Contact Mind Reading
128 Killing ’em with Science
129 The Knight’s Tour
131 Doodles
133 A Divination with Discs
135 Die-Vination
138 Finger-tip Vision
138 Triplico
142 Olfactory
145 Dial-a-Number

149 IX Smaller Stuff
149 The Affair of the “Invisible Pass”
151 S.H. Sharpe
152 The John Kenyon Version
153 The Imaginary Pipe
155 A Perverse Paper Balls and Hat Routine
158 The Irrepressible Ball
162 A Whole-Sheet Tissue Restoration
164 A Non-Sleight Card to Wallet
166 The Red Card
168 Buried Treasure

173 X Should Aulde Acquaintance
173 Louis Histed
176 The Self-Priming Syphon of Louis Histed
177 “It’s a Gas!”
179 The Multiple Jiffy Slate
181 Grote
183 The Chaotic Candle
187 Mudaliyar A.C.G.S. Amarasekara
190 Judge (Ernest) Wethered
192 Helmut Schreiber
192 David Lemmy
193 Tommy Cooper
194 The Great Norman
195 The Man Who is Wiser

197 XI And Miracles Keep Coming!
199 Xenomania 1
200 Xenomania 2
202 Whosgotwot, 1
203 Whosgotwot Plus One
205 Whosgotwot Mark Four
207 My Sword Stab
209 The Die Everlasting
212 The Midas Touch
214 An Inexactitude
218 Odds On
221 Painting by Numbers
224 A Street in Old Pekin

231 XII New Lives For Old
231 Northampton Magician Emigrating

233 Appendix

235 Index

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With bookplate for Margaret Yates

Eric Lewis is one of the great minds in magic who came up with many great effects during his lifetime. These 3 books represent the documentation of his inventions and incorporate many of his earlier writings which have been edited and rewritten and new illustrations drawn. These books incorporate much of the history behind the tricks which makes for interesting reading. This was conceived as trilogy and that was what was delivered, exactly 3 volumes. Lewis was also an expert craftsman and began building tricks at a young age. Many of Lewis' effects have also been commercially produced including many by Milson Worth.



A Choice of Miracles was published in 1980 and contains 213 pages. It describes his magic up until 1939 and here are some of the highlights:

Alarm Clock Production
Broken and Restored Wand
Merely a Mistake
Playing with Fire
The Book of Spells
Off and On the Ribbon
The Strange Letter
Walking-Cane Suspension
Locked Books Release
Case of the Curious Cubes
Curiouser and Curiouser
Improved "Zen's" Switch
Penetrating Flower-Pot
Comedy Flower Growth
Chinese Hat
Dual Lantern Production
Mystery of the Triple Temple
Convocational Jacks
Living and Dead Test
Cups and Balls for the Stage
Convincing Color-Change Wand
Vanishing tube
Golden Arrow
Electric Bulb Penetration

The second book in the series, A Continuation of Miracles, published in 1981, has a total of 254 pages. Lewis continues on his magical journey. Here are some of the effects described:

One Man Nest of Boxes
Crazy Imaginary Four-Ace Trick
Black Magic
Lighted Bulbs from Mouth
Fantastic Frame
Penelease
Die in Box
Clock Dial
Cups and Balls
Billiard Balls
Mass Production
'Orrible Murder
Fig-Leaf Chest
Peacock Fantasy
Hypnotizing a Rabbit
Card Guillotine
"Slam-Through" Glass Vanish
"Elevated" Magic Welding
Sympathetic Silks
Tricolor
Acrobatic Balls
Casket of Boxes
Chronicle of the Sympathetic Cubes
Perplexing Puzzle
Yellow Art Tubes
Torn, Restored, and Rising Card

The Crowning Miracles is the last of the volumes and has 237 pages and was published in 1983. This volume has over 20 years of children's magic, close-up, stage, and platform magic. Here are some of the highlights:

Suprinso
Pin-Up Girl
Color Forcing Paddle
"Slate" Mistake
Harbin-Lewis Trick
Mystery of the Crystal Ring
Who Done It?
A Lesson in Card Magic
School or Circus?
Pirate's CHest
Solid Chuff-Chuff
Eric Wilson and "Brer Rabbit"
Michael Chick
Die Table
Edward Pierce
Abdul's Fez
Weird Cylinders of Wung and Wong
Tumbling Name Blocks
The Great Zonzo
Newspaper Headline Prediction
Die-Vination
Dial-a-Number
Imaginary Pipe
The Red Card
Self-Priming Syphon of Louis Histed
Multiple Jiffy Slate
Sword Stab
Die Everlasting
Midas Touch
Painting by Numbers