JARRETT, Guy (1881 – 1972). Jarrett. Magic and Stage Craft Technical.

JARRETT, Guy (1881 – 1972). Jarrett. Magic and Stage Craft Technical. [New York]: Author, (1936). Blue cloth lettered in black. Plates. 8vo. Spine rubbed, hinges reinforced as issued, very good overall. DATED AND SIGNED on the title page: “N.Y., Feby. 27th, 1937 – Guy Jarrett.” Scarce. Widely regarded as one of the twentieth century’s most important books on stage magic and illusions, Jarrett’s approach to the art, to say nothing of his methods, was all but traditional. Written as the type was set and printed on a tiny tabletop press – no manuscript has survived, as apparently none was produced – the book is filled with as much coarse language and frank opinions as it is revolutionary tricks and techniques. Jarrett produced perhaps fewer than 500 copies, and many fewer still have survived. His warning facing the title page concludes with a line which, on reflection, is an absolute truism: “As much real info in this book as in a hundred other books, and it is the stuff not in other books.”