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You might remember that back in April we told you about The Magic of Johnny Thompson, a beautiful, two-volume treatise on Thompson’s life, career, and most importantly, his tricks. You might also recall that we warned you the box set, penned by the man himself in collaboration with fellow magician, Jamy Ian Swiss, would most likely sell out well before the first printing actually started.

Well, surprise! We were right, and you didn’t listen. The set sold out in mere days, leaving the slow, the weak, and those who didn’t have the best part of $300 to plonk down on (admittedly beautiful) magic literature to watch in dismay as bolder, luckier magic-lovers got their grubby paws on the books. 

Mistakes are useful as long as you learn from them. The Magic of Johnny Thompson is once again available for purchase, this time from the Magic Emporium for the same price of 295 American clams. 

If $295 sounds steep, I shall leave it to the books’ sales spiel to remind you of what’s contained within their pages: 

Written by renowned author Jamy Ian Swiss—Shattering Illusions (2001), Devious Standards (2011), and Preserving Mystery (2017) and the Lyons Den—and the master magician himself, Johnny Thompson, The Magic of Johnny Thompson meticulously details the real secrets of seventy-eight of Johnny’s most cherished and celebrated routines, including The Cups & Balls, The Balls in the Net, The Egg Bag and The Gambler’s Ballad.

It also includes previously unpublished material from Johnny’s respected colleagues and mentors including Dai Vernon, Harry Riser and Ed Marlo. There is an extended chapter devoted to the close-up magic of Charlie Miller and Max Malini. There is the entire Johnny Thompson Trade Show Act (complete with a sample script), including his incredibly impossible $100 Dollar Prediction. There is also a chapter devoted to dove and silk magic by The Great Tomsoni & Co., which includes a thorough essay on the development of a dove act.

That’s a lot of magicians passing on a lot of knowledge. You can order a copy here. 

Were you salivating over the lovely two-volume set of The Magic of Johnny Thompson? Did you miss out on the limited number of available copies? You’re in luck. Magicana has announced a second printing of the pair.

Other than confirmation that a second run is happening, details are still scarce. Magicana said that it doesn’t have an official publish date yet because the man himself, Johnny Thompson, will be signing each copy as he did with the initial printing. According to the blog post, Magicana is targeting delivery in July, but that’s just the provisional goal.

Pre-orders are available for this run, so you’d best move faster than Shin Lim palming a pen if you want to secure a copy. Head over to Magicana to put in an advance order of The Magic of Johnny Thompson.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on the unboxing video of the original books shared by The Magic Word.

The Magic of Johnny Thompson is a drop dead gorgeous two-volume treatise on the art of magic penned by Thompson himself and fellow magician, Jamy Ian Swiss. It is, by most accounts from those lucky enough to get their hands on one, a fantastic read and brilliant table piece. It also costs more than three hundred dollars. 

Fortunately, the internet allows us to live vicariously through those more fortunate. In this case, our avatar of ownership is magician and host of The Magic Word podcast, Scott Wells. Admittedly, Wells’ decision to open the box set on a $10 TV dinner table holds the video back from being truly scrumptious, but if you don’t have $300 to drop on a pair of books right now and you’re not looking to sell your kidney to a scalper in a years time to secure a second hand pair, this is the closest you’ll get.   

The book is shipping this month, but is still available for preorder on Magicana.