Conjuring Credits

The Origins of Wonder

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Thought-of Card Forced in a Fan by Glance

The idea of having a card thought of by briefly displaying the face of a fanned deck for its mental selection is described in Item 26, p. 27, of The Notebook, edited by Will Houstoun and written c. 1800. The force card is more widely exposed in the center of the fan, so that it is the only card, aside from that on the face, that can be identified. A court card was recommended, both because such cards are more striking and because the design was more easily identified in early decks without indices.