Carl Anthony Fulves (pronounced FUL-ves), known as Karl Fulves (27 July 1938 – 16 February 2023) was an American magician and author and editor of publications on magic, including the Pallbearers Review, a series of books on sleight of hand and close-up magic.

Early life Fulves was born in New Rochelle, NY on July 27, 1938. He graduated from New Rochelle High School in 1956 and attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY where he studied electrical engineering.

Career Fulves worked as an electrical engineer for several years starting around 1960 while simultaneously publishing in the field of magic. From 1982 until nearly the end of his life he worked as an administrative assistant in the medical services field in New Jersey.

Although his innovations in the field of magic and his prolific writing were initially almost entirely self-published, he achieved mainstream success starting in 1976 with the first of a long series of books published by Dover Books, and followed in 1977 by The Magic Book from Random house. The publicity program for The Magic Book featured appearances on the Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, and Dick Cavett television shows – among his few known public performances.

Self-working magic series Fulves is most well known for a series of ten short books about self-working magic published from 1976 to 1995 by Dover Publications and illustrated with line art by Joseph K. Schmidt. The first, Self-Working Card Tricks, detailed 72 magic tricks using standard playing cards and intended for amateur magicians without the need to perform sleight of hand. Most of the tricks involve the mathematical properties of a standard deck or glimpsing a "Key Card" at the start of a trick that follows the spectator's card throughout the deck's manipulation.

The first follow-up was published in 1979 as Self-Working Mental Magic, featuring 67 mind-reading tricks. Volumes on table magic and number magic were published in 1981 and 1982. A direct continuation of the series’ first entry was published in 1984 under the title More Self-Working Card Tricks. An entry on paper magic followed in 1985.

Periodicals Fulves published many periodicals over the years including Charlatan, Underworld accompanied by Fine Print, Interlocutor, and Midnight Magic Monthly.

List of periodicals published by Karl Fulves:

Alfredson/Daily - Fernandes numbers, titles, year of publication and number of issues in a complete file:

5510...Pallbearers Review, original series, ?–1965, 22 issues 5515...Pallbearers Review, 1965–1975, 120 issues 58955..Rigmarole, 1993–1994, 10 issues 6055...S-C, 1985, 7 issues 65703..Swindle Sheet, 1990–1992, 10 issues 69206..Underworld, 1995–1999, 10 issues 69800..Verbatim, 1993–1994, 10 issues

Karl Fulves' current publications, started in 1999, are Discoverie, Charlatan and Latter Day Secrets.

Published works Title Year PagesM1994?Binary Count Notes1969?Blocking Off??Bob Hummer's Collected Secrets1980106Bob Ostin's New Submarine Card198340Calculator Tricks1998130Card Counting198248Card Under Glass197924Cards #1 Four-card Brainwave197820Cards #2 51 Faces North197824Cards #3 Interlock198072Cards #4 Side Steal198160Cards #5 The Multiple Shift198948C199855Combo II ? ?Command Colors199722Contemporary Handkerchief Magic, part 1198730Contemporary Handkerchief Magic, part 2198728Contemporary Rope Magic, part 1198628Contemporary Rope Magic, part 2198628Contemporary Rope Magic, part 3198628Covenant198729Crooked Tales1994129Cryptology197924Curioser198061Deceptive Practices199283Deceptive Practices, Supplement199228Downs on Malini?11NSOM : Dr Ken Krenzel's Incredible Card Tunnel19756Easy to do card tricks for children198947Easy to do magic tricks for children197490Epilogue1993312Faro and riffle technique197690Faro and riffle techniques196946Faro and riffle technique; Supplement 1197010Faro and riffle technique; Supplement 21970?Faro and riffle technique; Supplement 31970?Faro possibilities1967?Faro possibilities197936Four color problems197924Fourcast198136Fr Cyprian's TV card rise198240Gambler's third lesson197916Gene Finnell's card magic197376Hardcore aces198312History of the brainwave principle1983100Hocus Poker Fulves1982Hofzinser's Card Tricks??Hofzinser Notebook200387Impromptu holdouts197750Impromptu Opener19798Inner sanctum197948Jack in the Box197924Jacob Daley's Notebooks (transcr. Csuri)1975194Kaleidoscope Rope198950Kannibal Kards19758NSOM : Karl Fulves Technicolor Cards19746Magic Book1977195Methods with Cards, part 1197580Methods with Cards, part 2197580Methods with Cards, part 3197580Mexican Monte197232Millennium Aces198192Money Moves198934More Self-working Card Tricks1984136Mutus Nomen1988?Neale's Trapdoor Card198312New Card Rises199662Notes from the Underground197361Nyria Effect197924Octet198176Origins198156Packet Switches (part I)197656Packet Switches (part II)197356Packet Switches (part III, Harvey Rosenthal)197776Packet Switches (part IV Gene Maze)197772Packet Switches (part V Gene Maze)197770Pallbearers Review volume 1-41993290Pallbearers Review volume 5-81993390Pallbearers Review volume 9-121993380Parallel Lines198040Principles of Riffle Shuffle Set-ups196830ProlixPrototype198950Punch out Puzzle Kit198224Quick Card Tricks198950Riffle Shuffle Control197923Riffle Shuffle Methods198749Riffle Shuffle Set-ups197398Riffle Shuffle Set-ups197698Riffle Shuffle Technique Preliminaries, Notes, Problems197122Riffle Shuffle Technique Preliminary Notes, part 1197222Riffle Shuffle Technique, part 1197512Riffle Shuffle Technique Preliminary Notes, part 2197360Riffle Shuffle Technique, part 2197510Riffle Shuffle Technique, part 3198492S-C contemporary money magic no 1, Robert E Neale's short change wallet198521S-C contemporary money magic no 2, Max Londono's After max198516S-C contemporary money magic no 3, Harvey Rosenthal's two and two198516S-C contemporary money magic no 4, Howard Wurst's paper money198516S-C contemporary money magic no 5, Robert E. Neale's bill tube198516S-C contemporary money magic no 6, Howard Wurst's simplex switch198516S-C contemporary money magic no 7, Nick van Selter's one hand turnover198516Secret Session, part one198729Secret Session, part two198728Secret Session, part three198728Self-working Card Tricks1976113Self-working Close-up Card Magic1995120Self-working Coin Magic1989136Self-working Handkerchief Magic1989184Self-working Mental Magic1979121Self-working Number Magic1982145Self-working Paper Magic1985147Self-working Rope Magic1990148Self-working Table Magic1981122Setting up Exercises1995111Shape Changers197944Shuffle off198312Six Impromptu Card Tricks198248Swindle & Cheat - a collection of nontransitive games199171Teleportation Notes19698Teleportation Notes197924The Best of Slydini and More, vol 1 (text)1976108The Best of Slydini and More, vol 2 (photos)1976126The Book of Numbers197147The Book of Numbers, Supplementary Notes197119The Children's Magic Kit198016+16The Magic of Slydini and More, vol 1 (text)1976108The Magic of Slydini and More, vol 2 (photos)1976126The Magical World of Slydini, vol 1 (text)1979101The Magical World of Slydini, vol 2 (photos)1979176The Return Trip198639The Shamrock Code & the Parallel Principle197948Topological False Count197918Transpo Trix197880Trick with Dice1970?Vampire Chronicles199792Vampire Papers199745When Psychics Play Poker??Wireless II198248Word Play??Worknotes on Brainwave198320

Fulves wrote the text for a number of the Stars of Magic manuscripts, including Chris Capehart's 3-Ring Routine, Joe de Stefano's Chinatown Poker, Max Londono's Eternal String, Metalogic (Fred Baumann) and David Roth Okito Box routine.

Death

On November 3, 2023, Fulves's son Ben posted on Genii Forum that his father had died on 16 February 2023.

See also List of magicians Card magic Coin magic sleight of hand

References

External links

Karl Fulves in Abra Magazine Discussion of Karl Fulves' involvement with the Gilbreath principle Bibliographies for the Karl Fulves books Self-Working Close-up Card Magic, Self-Working Card Tricks, Self-Working Coin Magic, Self-Working Mental Magic, Self-Working Paper Magic, and Self-Working Table Magic at The Conjuring Archive