The Bunco Book.

Holyoke, MA: Sidney Radner, 1946. Inscribed by the author. Quarto. 96 pp. Profusely illustrated. Spiral-bound wrappers with lettering and designs in red, gree and black. An excellent copy.Gibson was a rather amazing fellow. A Colgate University graduate, he is probably best know as the creator of the famous radio program The Shadow but he also wrote more than a hundred books on magic, psychic phenomena, true crime, mysteries, rope knots, yoga, hypnotism, and games. He served as a ghost writer for books on magic and spiritualism by Harry Houdini, Howard Thurston, Harry Blackstone, Sr., and Joseph Dunninger. This is one of his most famous books. The word "Bunco" brings to mind criminals but in reality this book is almost entirely about midway cons; ball toss, wheel of chance, etc. He explains exactly how the odds are rigged against the mark.It bears a very nice inscription; "To Lew Dick, as one con artist to another, Walter B. Gibson, Sept, 27, 1972." It is a wonderful irony that Lew Dick was a licensed Marriage and Family therapist as well as a magician. On the front inner cover we find Dick's bookplate, his therapist stamp (By Appointment Only/Dr. Lew Dick, Ph. D./Marriage and Family Counselor/ Psychoanalysis and Hypnotherapy... Arverne. NY) and his stamp as a magician (Lew Dick/Master Magician/Arverne, NY).