Magic Handbook (Science and Mechanics) by Science and Mechanics

This is the only all magic issue of Science and Mechanics magazine. It includes a cross section of magic effects from illusions with building instructions, to various close-up effects and mentalism. The emphasis with this magazine was to encourage readers to build their own. It therefore has a distinct DIY feel. The magic consultants for this issue were William B. Gibson, Sidney H. Radner, Litzka Raymond, and Victor D. Dressner.

• COVER STORY: Famous Knife Box Illusion
• EXCLUSIVE FEATURE: Escapes—Special Form of Magic
• GENERAL FEATURES
  • About Magic
  • Magic Black-Art Table
  • Magical Appliances
  • Present Your Own Magic Show
• 40 MAGIC PROJECTS TO BUILD AND PERFORM
  • Sliding Die Box
  • Cabalistic Cube
  • Wrist Chopper
  • Baffling Blocks
  • Cake in a Hat
  • Three Silk Tricks
  • Card Found in a Balloon
  • Candle from the Pocket
  • Crystal Casket
  • Strange Riddle of Magnetic Milk
  • Mental Pack
  • Flash Production Tube
  • Glass Balanced on Card
  • Penetration of Solid Through Solid
  • Appearing Card in a Frame
  • Chemical Magic
  • Vanishing Glass of Water
  • Tube and Ropes
  • Traveling Wand
  • Escape from a Packing Box
  • Vanishing Made Easy
  • Wrist Stock Escape
  • Vanishing Glass of Milk
  • 3-Dimensional Jigsaw Perplexture
  • Evaporating Milk
  • Ink into Water
  • Small Silk to Full-Size Egg
  • Flying Handkerchief
  • Breakaway Vanishing Box
  • Making and Solving Puzzles
  • Matchbox and Ribbon Mystery
  • Chinese Rice Canisters
  • Close-up Rising Cards
  • Confetti Becomes Candy
  • Handkerchief Production Cabinet
  • Produce Beautiful Silks
  • Spirit Slate Trick
  • Vanishing Bowl of Water
  • Spooky Card Trick
  • Block, Frame, and Ribbon Trick
• TABLE-TOP MAGIC
  • 68 Table-Top Tricks
    • Record Lights Tube
    • The Six Pile
    • The Reappearing Ball
    • Balanced Water
    • Cord-Arm Escape
    • Drink Up
    • Obedient Matchbox
    • Juice Writing
    • Card Sharp
    • Pull the Pacer
    • The Floating Straw
    • Chew Two Strings into One
    • What Brand?
    • Rearranging Molecules
    • Tug of War
    • Written in the Cards
    • Cutting the Cards
    • Name the Coin
    • A Light Matter
    • Perfect Balance
    • Confetti from an Egg
    • Three Coins into Four
    • Dry Sand
    • A Floating Filter
    • Hot Money?
    • Box Up Your Sleeve
    • Pocket Mind Reading
    • Make Dimes Disappear
    • Cord Through Wrist
    • Pick the Card
    • Matches Meet Their Match
    • Reverse Shell Game
    • Card Stands on End
    • Carry Fire in Your Hands
    • Where Does the Money Go?
    • Disk Meets Coin
    • Magnetic Personality?
    • Flip a Coin
    • Pop!— Goes the Pencil
    • Magnetic Fingertips
    • Ball Space Rider
    • Disappearing Match
    • N o Strings on These Rings
    • Domino Numbers
    • N ow You See It; Now You Don't
    • Match Tongs
    • Quick-Change Checkers
    • Water-Drinking Spirits
    • What Makes It Float?
    • Cigarette Follows Lead
    • Diving Eye Dropper
    • Coin from an Empty Box
    • One or Two Balls
    • Disappearing Sugar
    • "Thin Air " Force
    • Shifting Dice
    • Flaming Fission
    • The Shell Game
    • Human Egg Factory
    • Matches Obey Command
    • Pencil-in-the-Box
    • Orange Picking
    • Seeing with Your Hands
    • Stand Match on End
    • Magnetic Paper
    • The Uncut Paper
    • Name the Color
    • Drop the Coin
  • Sleight-of-Hand Tricks
• 8 FAMOUS STAGE ILLUSIONS
  • Egyptian Torture Cabinet
  • Thurston's Spirit Cabinet
  • Thurston's Rising Card Trick
  • Floating Piano
  • Cannon and Trunks
  • Million Dollar Mystery
  • Upside Down Mystery
  • How to Saw a Woman in Half

1st edition 1962, No. 589, 160 pages.
word count: 99174 which is equivalent to 396 standard pages of text