Sublime

He also performed Unshuffled, an effect he created that bowled over Penn & Teller on their television show Penn & Teller: Fool Us. The deck’s edge is drawn on with black marker and, after shuffling a few times, the scribbles magically transform into letters that spell out the spectator’s chosen card. He also performed Namerology, my favorit

The Expert at the Card Table. Written and published pseudonymously in 1902, it contained a large section on card cheating techniques followed by an equally large one on card tricks of the era.

The idea of pouring different liquors from a single bottle was an old one by the time of Robert-Houdin. Devant realized that for his audience the trick was so old that it would be new again.

He [Doyle] created a shrewd, quick-sighted, inquisitive man...with plenty of spare time, a retentive memory, and perhaps with the best gift of all - the power of unloading the mind of all burden of trying to remember unnecessary details.

His novel presentation focused on the thousand people in the audience who did not step up onstage, calculating that by quietly exposing the trick to a few, he was creating a miracle for everyone else.