saw Pat do, heard him lecture about or read in any of the publications that he produced (or

contributed to) will be covered here. In fact, there are more than two hundred tricks, moves and

bits of business covered.

There is enough material in here to last for several careers. Every aspect, style and genre of

magic is covered from cards and coins through to stage via strolling, parlour and restaurants.

There truly is something for everyone here.

There are a couple of things that puzzle me about this book. The first is the price. Including

postage (in the case of the parcel delivered to me, £4.41) and packaging, it costs only £53*. That

is astonishingly cheap for what you get. The other thing that frankly amazes me is that the book

was published as it is. I believe that it could easily have been split into two or even three

volumes. Now don’t get me wrong; this is not a complaint. I just think that it is an extremely

generous gesture by the publishers!

In saying that, I do hope that they come across some more forgotten or unpublished material as

I really don’t want to think that this will be the last ever Pat Page book.

So to sum up: don’t even think about it: go to the Patrick Page Magic website (details below)

now. Order it, read it and I promise that you will keep going back to it. I sincerely believe that

this will rank with Tarbell and Wilson as a ‘must have’ in any magic library. Buy it now, get a first

edition and enjoy your investment! DG

Magic Page By Page by Patrick Page. £53* inc. P&P from www.patrickpagemagic.co.uk

*Sorry but since this review was printed, the Post Office has increased its postal charges and we have had to increase the price to £55 to reflect this. Unfortunately, this is a heavy book weighing just under 2 kilos.

Review from Pat Fallon in Dublin (9th December). Thanks Pat for allowing us to including this review.

This morning I felt very sorry for my postman as I saw him heading to my front door in the wind and rain with as rather large package under his arm. Despite feeling sorry for him I was happy to see him struggling, as I knew he was delivering my much anticipated copy of Page by Page.

Nothing could have prepared me for what was inside the brown cardboard packing, not even the preview material I had seen at the International Convention a couple of weeks ago. It is a magnificent large format volume of some three hundred and twenty seven pages, full of Patrick Page’s routines, stories, observations, tips, advice and photographs, all beautifully laid out in a way that makes it a joy to read.

The design work by Michael Albright is just wonderful and you could not ask for a better editor than Matthew Field which makes this a truly  beautiful piece of work and everything the author would have expected it to be. It is a fitting tribute to a man who did so much to further the careers of so many of the magicians like myself currently working all over the world. 

Anybody who has witnessed Patrick Page in action would know what to expect in the way of tricks and routines, but it’s all the other extra stuff you get that makes this such and enjoyable and educational read. This book was a gift to myself to be read over the Christmas Holiday, but I could not resist delving into it to savour some of the contents and these are just two of the many gems I discovered.

Chapter Two dealing with the stacked asks the question “A spectator takes a card and you immediately know it’s name, now what. They name a card and you instantly know it’s position in the deck, now what. They call out a number and you can tell then what card is at that position, now what”  not only does Patrick Page ask the question, but thankfully he gives you the answers.

Chapter Ten is entitled ‘Now they see it’ which is probably the most comprehensive collection of tricks where everybody, but the spectator on stage, knows what is happening except him. Tricks like the Paper Balls over the Head and Card on Forehead are just two of the many items dealt with in this chapter which was for me alone worth the asking price.

I was very lucky to have personally known Pat and any time spent with him was always a joy. It was his other ‘Big Book of Magic’ the really got me started, which he always maintained was regrettable, that he had to bear the burden of responsibility for me inflicting pain on the general public.

I do have two major regrets about the book, one being that Patrick never lived to see his masterpiece published and the other is that unlike all the other Patrick Page material in my library it will never bear his signature. You may be gone but this book will ensure you are never forgotten.   

Pat Fallon 9th December 2011