Since the 1950's, Coin Magic by J.B. Bobo has been the standard work for magicians who either do, or want to do coin magic. It is an encyclopedic compilation of sleights, tricks and routines by the world's best coin magicians up till 1966, when the book was last updated.

Magic For Dummies by David Pogue is great if you're in search of a few new magic tricks and a good chuckle. A lot of ad-lib effects are contained in the book - stuff you can do anywhere with common items. Every chapter has something helpful. There are even replies given for frequent questions like "how did you do that?" and stuff you can say when you flub a trick.

David Ginn has written an instructive handbook, Clown Magic for the clown that wishes to put a touch of magic in his routine. Clown Magic is packed with techniques to unite the comedy and tricks of clowning with the delight of magic. No sleight of hand tricks are involved, the entertainment comes from the delivery and not from the tricks themselves. The book has a large number of photographs and drawings of brilliant tricks and routines using homemade props.

Commended by the Los Angeles Times as "the text that ... young magicians swear by," Mark Wilson's Complete Course in Magic is filled with step-by-step directions. The knowledge behind 300 skills is supplied by over 2000 illustrations, from basic card tricks to advanced levitation, together with suggestions for planning and staging a professional-quality magic show.

And finally there's Everybody's Magic, a compilation of easy-to-do magic tricks from thirty of the best-known magicians in the UK. Sixty stunts and magic tricks have been supplied, all intended for beginners. Even veteran magicians will take pleasure in the book as a lot of of the contributions will take them back to a few of the traditional tricks that got them started in magic in the first place.