The origin of the
Diminishing Cards begins, as far as we know, with Jean Eugene
Robert-Houdin’s performance using a standard deck of playing
cards and fanning to produce the illusion of diminishing (1868).
An excerpt describing this, written by Jean Hugard (1935), is
included.
Charles Bertram began the practice of using different sizes of
cards to perform his version, as described in 1903 in The Modern
Conjuror by C. Lang Neil (excerpt included), who also notes that
commercial sets of diminishing cards are also beginning to appear
in magic shops of the day.
David Devant also describes a sleight of hand version using
successively smaller packs of cards in his Lessons in Conjuring
(1922 – excerpt included).
The practice of using gimmicked cards in which the smaller cards
were kept in pockets on the backs of the larger cards was
invented by Martin Chapender, and it was this version that made
its way into the magic stores at the turn of the century. An
excerpt from Robertson Keene’s More Novel Notions (1905) is
included to explain this version.
In 1922, Ed Massey came up
with a more compact mechanical version, an excerpt of which is
included, as well as a template for making one of your own. Based
on Ed Massey’s idea, Steve Duschek developed a simpler
version (c. 1980), and working from both of those
“giants” of magic, I humbly add my own version which
starts with a jumbo pack of cards (2010). Templates for
printing your own cards for my Jumbo version are also included.
Most of the authors, myself included, recommend
that you use this effect as a follow-up to a Cards Across effect as a way
of explaining how the cards are able to pass up your sleeves, or
jump from one place to another without your being able to see
them.
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