Jordan, Charles. Collection of Charles T. Jordan “CTJ Series of Magical Effects.” Issued 1919 – 1922. Seventy-seven printed instructions for various tricks devised by Jordan, each in a printed envelope bearing the trick’s name, and including effects such as The Spirit Ace, The Bewitched Umbrella, The Electrified Strippers, and many more. Includes numbers 1 – 79; lacks nos. 24, 51, and 58. Sold together with eight more Jordan secrets issued in his “special service” series, to be mailed four times per month, and the two issues of Jordan’s “Four Full Hands” series. Many with photographic illustrations accompanying the directions. Envelopes all show tears and wear, contents generally very good. The Jordan secrets are accompanied by several typed postcards, signed by Karl Fulves, who collected many of Jordan’s secrets in book form. A checklist of Jordan tricks in the hand of Dr. John Henry Grossman also accompanies the lot, along with a photograph of Jordan in his later years, and a negative of the image. A scarce assemblage of secrets rarely encountered. Jordan was a clever inventor of sleight-of-hand and other magical methods. His interest in the art was first piqued in 1908, but it was not until 1919 that he began publishing his ideas. He released a steady stream of booklets and individual effects until 1923, when his interest in conjuring waned. His effects were later published by Ted Annemann, and anthologized in book form. He made his living as a chicken farmer in Petaluma, California, where he died in 1944.