The Unexpected Card Book by Ed Marlo
Some magic books teach you tricks. A rare few change how you think about card magic entirely. The Unexpected Card Book is one of those rare few.
Ed Marlo was one of the most prolific and inventive minds in the history of card magic. At the height of his career, there was simply too much material to publish through conventional channels. On the advice of David Solomon, he began printing small, privately circulated manuscripts that quietly found their way into the hands of serious card workers. Decades later, those manuscripts have become some of the most sought-after documents in the entire art form.
The Unexpected Card Book is the first and most celebrated of them all. Often called "Volume Zero" of the legendary Marlo Magazines, this is the work that bridges his underground private material and his more widely known published output. It is a dense, wide-ranging collection of more than 80 tricks and sleights spanning multiple plots and skill levels, and the ideas inside feel just as sharp, practical, and modern today as they did when Marlo first put them to paper.
The highlights are genuinely special. His handling of the Balducci Cut Deeper Force is widely regarded as the clearest and most effective version ever published. His Wild Card routine ranks among his finest creations. And throughout the eleven chapters you will find gems like Simplex Blindfold Deals, Success Story, Miracle Faro Reverse, Royal Monte, and The Darkest Hour, alongside essential moves including the Simple Push Switch and the Marlo Center Deal, which is not only brilliantly deceptive but surprisingly accessible for performers at many levels.
This edition was republished with extraordinary care. Every word was retyped, every illustration redrawn, and every page redesigned to contemporary standards while staying true to Marlo's original spirit. And with the help of Mike Vance, Marlo's own handwritten notes from his personal manuscript have been incorporated directly into the text. This is not just the most complete version of The Unexpected Card Book ever printed. It is a genuine piece of magic history, restored and presented as it deserves to be.
Eleven chapters covering: collectors, overhand shuffle applications, prepared card effects, mathematical and faro effects, clock routines, system controls, updated classics, transpositions, and a bonus chapter of essential sleights and moves.
Whether you are a working card magician looking for practical, performance-ready material or a magic historian who understands what this manuscript represents, The Unexpected Card Book belongs in your library.
