al mann - codex-x

POST OFFICE BOX 144 FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY 07728

CODEX-X copyright 1979 by Al Mann Exclusives

FOREWORD

Codex-X is the final-port-of-call of an odyssey that has taken the author through many years of study and planning. Codex-X was primarily inspired by the late Richard Himber's many book tests and C. L. Boarde's monumental work "Maily Mental" Vol II on book tests. It was secondarily inspired by the men-talist's love for the mystery of the book test that was popularized by Annemann in his Jinx and by Burling Hull in his writings.

The first notes were penciled in Istanbul, Turkey in 1961. The origianl concept wittten in poetry was called "Incunabula." The name was changed to Codex-X for no important reason and the poetry was discarded due to the fact that forcing poems do not read any too good.

Many thanks to my Manhattan friend, Mr. H. Penn for introducing me to all the type setters, printers and book binders in New York City, who helped bring the pleasant odyssey to its final resting place in-side the covers of the X-Tomes,. ;; /J I,.~J//-

Gentlemen, please enjoy it.~~

bs.r. -l/nr/kb inst. f. i/nk/kg inst. p. l/nf/kb

This is set no. K of a limite{1".~ first edi tion of 300 sets. Oz:tgin.l sets of J books, same title. -" ,>-. -

1

POST OFFICE BOX 144 FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY 07728

CODEX-X copyright by Al Mann Exclusives 1979

Gentlemen. since you have paid a good price for this effect. I will not waste your time with verbiage and get down to the business of 'miracles.'

THE "TITLE" PREDICTION

EFFECT. Performer predicts what book will be freely chosen from a shelf of books by stating the Title and Author of the book plus a word freely chosen by a spectatorl The prediction is sealed in an envelope and given to a spectator before the show or it can be printed in a newspaper ad.

SECRET. Please examine the three hard bound books you have received. We will refer to these as the X-Tomes.

All three books have the same title and author on the front cover but are of different size. thickness and color AND they have a different number printed on the spinel It is these num-bers (1. 5 and 9) that enables the performer to give the spec-tator a free choice of any book on the shelf AND the spectator can count either from right to left or lett to right on the shelfl

Book 1 is the thin and tall tan-color book

Book 5 is the blue book

Book 9 is the red book. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

THE BASIC FORCE. Here is the force in its simplest dress. Please reter to Fig. 1. It represents a shelf of books with nine books on it.

The X-Tomes are marked X and are in position 3. 6 and 9

X

1

8 7 6 5 Fig. 1

X

5

4

X

9

2 8 counting from left to right. The numbers on the spine of the X-Tomes can be placed in any of the three positions. their order does not matter. The other six books on the shelf can be any books such as the best sellers,. or famous books like Sherlock Holmes. Poe. etc. There should be other books with numbers on the spine. But these numbers must be greater than nine.

9

1

CODEX-X

THE BASIC FORCE . cont.

2

AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

A spectator is asked to callout any number from 1 to 9. If he calls out numbers 1, S or 9, he is directed to pick that book off the shelf as that is the only book with that number on the spinel

If he calls out numbers J, 6 or 8 he is directed to count to his book from left to right.

If he calls out numbers 2, 4 or 7, he is directed to count from right to leftl

After the book is taken from the shelf, performer points out that all the other books have different titles and authors and takes some from the shelf to show them.

That, Gentlemen is the basic force BUT as master mentalists we must not act so naive. We want to give the spectator a free choice of any number from 1 to 9 and also a choice of counting either from right to left or left to rightl So we come to the-

MASTER FORCEI Let us assume that in Fig. 1 the books have their spines facing the audience. For the Master Force we will turn the books around so that the spines are out of sight. For that you may simply use two light weight book ends or a small portable book shelf that can be easily turned around, but one that will not hide the numbers on the spine when shown.

Let Fig. 2 represent the shelf of books with their spines facing away from the audience. The X-Tomes are now in reverse order. However if we turn the shelf around, the shelf will look like in Fig. 1.

The numbers on the top and bottom of the shelve are imaginary for our own information.

1

~

2 J 4 S 678 9

x

9

~

X X

S 1

7 6 S 4 J 2 1 Fig. 2

THE PRESENTATION, Porformer calls attention to a shelf of books behind him and states that he is going to try a most unique test, one that is seldom tried. He then passes out a sealed en-velope for someone to hold. He next asks anyone in the audience to callout any number from 1 to 9. He also points out that the titles on the books are out ot sight because he does not want the number chosen due to the title.

If spectator calls out numbers 1, S or 9, the shelf is simply turned around and the spectator is told to choose the book with the chosen number on the spine. If any other number is called,

)

CODEX-X AN AL MANN EXCLUSIVE

THE MASTER FORCE ... cont.

performer states, "Now that you have chosen the number, you have a choice of counting either from left to right or from right to left.

Say that the spectator chose to count from left to right, and that he chose numbers 2, 4 or 7. Performer simply directs the spectator to count from left to right without turning the book shelf around. After the book is chosen ( a force tome) performer turns the shelf around to show that the other books have other titles and authors, etc.

If the number chosen was ), 6 or 8 and the spectator must count from left to right, THE BOOK SHELF MUST BE TURNED AROUND by the pretext of saying, "Thank you. I will now show you the spines of the books. Here the performer turns the shelf around and points out the different titles etc, and then has the spec-tator pick out his chosen book by counting from left to rightl

Here is a table prompter that can be pasted on a pencil. First the books must be placed spines backwards as in Fig. 2.

To count left to right

DO NOT TURN

TURN SHELF

numbers chosen

2, 4 or

), 6 or

7

8

To count right to left

TURN SHELF

DO NOT TURN

The patter is the important key here. The book shelf must be turned around sooner or later and your audience does not care when. You have the edge here as to when to turn it around and the routine looks quite normal.

THE FORMAT OF THE X-TOMES

BOOK 1. (the thin book) contains the original text in 6) numbered pages and seven chapters. There are no two pages alike in this book. If a book must be given out to examine, this is the book to use although the other two books can also be given out. A person can read all of book 1 and not see anything amiss. But the text is very hard reading as it deals with the abstract science of existentialism. Anyone other than a philosopher or stUdent will tire of reading the text after) or four pages.

BOOK 5. The blue book contains 191 numbered pages in 21 chap-ters. This book contains the same text as book 1 but repeated

) times under different page numbers and chapters. Chapter VIII on page 65 is the same as Chapter I on page 1, etc.

Please note that Chapter XIII (1) on page 105 is not listed on the table of contents. There is a reason for this which will

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THE FORMAT ... cont.

be dealt with later. The table of contents only shows 20 chapters while the book has 21. That is because the table of contents will not come under too much use or scrutiny.

BOOK 9. The red book contains 255 numbered pages in 28 chapters but only 20 chapters are listed in the table of con-tents for the same reason given above. If a spectator is given a choice of any chapter he will be directed to choose from the table of contents which will give him a wide choice.

Book 9 has the same text as book 1 but repeated 4 times. The different sizes, thickness and color of the books which

have the same contents are in itself a potent weapon for any professional mentalist.

MINDREADING AND PREDICTING THE WORD

After forcing the 'Title' and 'Author' the performer also forces a word and in the presentation does ~uwe mindreadingl

After spectator removes his chosen book from the shelf. he is told to sit about 10 or more feet away from the performer and to secretly open the book to any page and tell no one the page number. Performer then tells him what he is reading even though every page in the book is different.

SECRET. Please open anyone of the X-Tomes to any page. You now have two pages, the left and the right pages. Assume that these two pages are just one. Somewhere on the two pages there is a short paragraph, composed of J or 4 lines.

Please refer to Fig. J. Throughout the text, there are six short paragraphs peppered in different positions not necessarily in any order.

---

-~

Fig. J

Paragraph number 1 is always found in the Upper left hand page as shown by the 1 in the circle on Fig. J. This is called paragraph 1. UL.

Paragraph 2 is always found on the lower left. called 2-LL. Paragraph J is in the upper right, called J-UR. Paragraph 4 is in the lower right, called 4-LR Paragraph 5 starts on the lower left and ends in the upper

right. A person reading this short paragraph will start rea-ding on the bottom of the left hand page and end reading on the top of the right hand page. This is called 5-LL-UR

Paragraph 0 starts on the lower right and ends in the upper

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MINDREADING ...... cont.

left section of the next page. If a spectator reads this para-graph, he will have to turn the page to finish reading it. This is 6-LR-UL.

Here are the six paragraphs. Please note that every paragraph contains the word "philosophy" or "philosophical" which are force words.

#1. ULI "Here we sense in this philosophy, a tendency towards an extreme individuality and also a ten-dency towards a deeply-felt totality."

Notel This paragraph contains the force word 'philosophy' and also a hyphened double word. These special

words are used in the patter.

#2. LL. "The meaning of the word "philosophy" continues to divert us, and I continue not to reserve it for the class of professors or the professors of classes."

Note. This paragraph has the force word in quotation marks I Again something to use in the patter.

#J. URI "There remains the fact that we are able to recog-nize and understand these early philosophical pre-figurations of the science of existence, Ie pour sei, only because a Kierkegaard existed."

Notel The force word in this paragraph is 'philosophi-cal.' There is also a French phrase in italics which has a printer's error. It should be, Ie pour soi. This paragraph also has in some cases a second force word 'necessarily' as will be shown later.

#4. LR. "The philosophy of existence, len soi, has become not only a European problem, but a world problem."

Notel This paragraph has the force word 'philosophy' plus a French phrase in italics and a word with a capital letter (European).

IS. LL-URI "Here again, history repeats itself. As the phi-losophical traditional empericism amounted to a total destruction or change of experience into a chaos of sensation, so existentialism applies itself to reducing existence to zero."

Note. The force word here is 'philosophical.' Para-graph has a number of long words.

6


MINDREADING ... cont.

116. LR-UL. "There are no longer any copulas in existential philosophy. The copulas express the very Umgrei-fend (all-enveloping) event of being."

Note. This paragraph has the force word 'philosophy' and also a foreign word in italics plus a hyphened double word in parenthesis.

A careful study of these six paragraphs will reveal simila-rities that the performer can use in his patter instantly. The force word is always 'philosophy' or 'philosophical.' Be-sides the force word, each paragraph on the right hand page refers to the philosophy of existence. These facts can be used in the patter.

All paragraphs except #5. contain outstanding words like words in italics, quotations, hyphened, etc.

IN CONCLUSION. After telling the spectator what he is read-ing, have the prediction envelope opened and read. It fore-told the choice of the book by Title and Author plus the fact that the paragraph chosen would contain the word 'philosophy!'

This is a very strong effect and although it is only one of the many effects possible. it alone is worth the price of Codex-X.

THE AWESOME AUGURY

Since there are only six short paragraphs peppered through-out the X-tomes and these are relatively easy to force. a pre-diction can be made as to what book and what paragraph in the book will be chosen. All that is needed are 2 J-way envelopes and a Himber Walletl Chances are that the spectator will choose one of the first four paragraphs.

OTHER TITLES. Owners of Codex-X who wish X-Tomes with other titles for repeat shows. may order same at cost. This will cost about $20 per book. These books have to be especially ordered. Any books ordered will have the same number as the original set and will belong to the set. (quoted price as of 1979)

INSTANT MINDREADING

EFFECT. Spectator opens a book to any page and tells no one the page number. He chooses any paragraph or chapter. Perfor-mer instantly tells him what he is readingl

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INSTANT MINDREADING ..... cont.

SECRET. The first word of every chapter is an escalating anagram as follows.

CHAPTER I II III IV V VI VII

FIRST WORD A An Man Name Named Demand Amended

Chapter I begins with a one letter word. Chapter II be-gins with a two-letter word, etc.

Since chapter VIII is a repetition of Chapter I, it also begins with the word A, and so does Chapter XV and XXII.

The performer does not need to know the chapter number. Once he learns the first word the rest of the chapter is known!

Since there are only seven chapters in the book, the per-former can predict the choice of chapter simply by preparing seven envelopes with proper predictions! The chapter or the contents are not predicted word for word but rather in some cryptic form without equivocation.

THE PARAGRAPHS. The first word of every paragraph in the X -Tomes is also an escalating anagram of ;a different order from chapter beginnings, as followsa

He, 'The, Here, There, Either, Therein. Neither, Theories, Otherwise and Theoreti-cally.

In the Presentation. performer asks the spectator to con-centrate on the first letter of the first word. then on the second letter and to let the performer know when he is read-ing the second word, etc.

It is recommended that the performer use paper and pencil for writing down his impressions rather than alphabet cards. If person is thinking of a four letter word. then the per-former knows it is the word "here." For a seven letter word the answer is 'Therein' or'Neither.'

Two prompter lists are needed. One for chapter beginnings and one for paragraph beginnings. With the paragraphs only the first word can be divined but with the chapters, the en-tire contents is revealedl

AN EXCEPTION. The first word of the paragraph at the bottom of page 43 is the word "First." So if a person is thinking of a five letter word and he says it is not the word 'There' then you know it is the word 'First.' This is the only exception to the paragraph anagrams. Page 43 is repeated as pages. 107.

171 and 235.

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INSTANT MINDREADING .... cont.

While working with the anagrams, the performer does not have to see the books or the spectator so that he can do the test while the spectator is in another room or another cityl

ANOTHER FORCE WORD

The first sentance of every chapter contains the word, "effectiveness and it is the longest word in the first sen-tance making it a force word (ala Himber).

EXCEPTION, Chapter XIII (13) which is not listed in the table of contents does not have this long word force. The longest word of the first sentance of chapter XIII is "exis-tentialism."

FOR THE TEST, Open the book to the table of contents and tell the spectator to secretly (:hoose any chapter and to turn to that page. Then you can read his mind and also predict the longest word, plus the book title, etc.

Chapter XIII can be used to show the difference, if deemed necessary.

PREDICTIONS IN THE N~~SPAPERS

Since the book Title and Author and word chosen are all forced, these choices can be predicted in a newspaper ad weeks ahead of time.

HERE IS ANOTHER PREDICTION that can be published ahead of time that seems very strong as the spectators apparently have a free choice of any paragraph in the bookl

Predict that the words "The, Here and Perhaps" will be cho-sen. NOTE. The third word "perhaps" can be any word as it is a dummy.

SECRET. Please open anyone of the X-Tomes to any even-num-ber page (left-hand page) and look at the first word of any paragraph (there are no chapter beginnings on the even-number pagesl). You will be reading either the word "The" or "Herel"

All the paragraphs on the even-numbered pages start with "The" or "Herel"

THE PRESENTATION. Pass out the 3 X-Tomes into different parts of the audience making believe they are three different books.

Tell spectator with book 1 to secretly think of any number from 5 to 30 and to double it. He will arrive at an even number And to turn to that page and to choose a paragraph.

Tell spectator with book 5 to think of any number from 5 to 95 and to do the same. Double it, etc.

Spectator with book 9 is told to think of any number from 5 to 125 and to double it and to open to that page and to choose any paragraph.

NOTS. Some even-numbered pages are blank. If one is chosen tell spectator to add 2, or 4 to his total.

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PREDICTIONS .. cont.

Spectators are now told to concentrate on the first word of their chosen paragraphs. Performer emphazises the fact that he does not know at what page they are looking.

All three spectators are either looking at the same word or at the most at two words, "The" and "Here." Performer, however calls out the two known words plus any other word and then asks if he is correct. etc. This principle should be well known by the reader.

THE CHAIN OF THOUGHT. Here the spectators have a free choice of any word on the pagel The three X-Tomes are passed out as before and some one is asked to secretly choose a page number 1 to 64 and to write it down and show it secretly to the three spectators holding the books. Spectators open to the secret page. Someone else calls out a line number and the number of the word on the line. All three spectators are now looking at the same word but do not know it. They are asked to write down the word on a slip of paper. Performer takes one slip and does the center-tear and tells the other two persons to tear up their slips. Perfomer then divines the words by calling out or writing three words on a slate. One of the words is the chosen word while the other two are dummies.

When doing MINDREADING to a single person and you see that he is looking at the left hand page (even-number) then you know he is thinking of either "The" or "HereS"

THE CLUB FORCE

This one is for the boys at the club. They will think that the solution to this test is elementary but when they try it they will fail miserably.

WORKING. Tell anyone in the club to write down a 3-digit number (the two end numbers should be different). Then to re-verse the number and subtract the smaller from the larger.

Example. chosen number

reversed difference

237

~ Next he is instructed to look up the 4th word on page 9S

to arrive at "necessarily" which is a force word and can be predictedl BUT it doesn't always work out that way. To trip the wise ones, the force words have been alternated as follows.

_.

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THE CLUB FORCE ...... cont.

If the chosen number (the results) starts with an even digit like in 495. use the first digit for the word and the last two digits for the page. vis. 4th word on page 95

If the chosen number starts with an odd number like 594. use the first two digits for the page number and the last digit for the warda vis. 4th word on page 59.

The force word will be either "necessary" or "necessarily."

With the method used. there are only 9 possible results. 99. 198, 297. 396, 495, 594. 693, 792, and 891.

Numbers 99 and 891 are quite rare and seldom show up. Number 99 is not covered in the X-Tomes with a force word.

However for our own information we should become familiar with all the combinations and here they area

Word non-force Result Position Page Word Force Word

99 9th 9 remains 1st 99 Named

198 1st 98 Here 8th 19 necessarily

297 2nd 97 necessarily 7th 29 limits

396 3rd 96 may 6th 39 necessarily

495 4th 95 necessarily 5th 49 fact

594 5th 94 we 4th 59 necessary

693 6th 93 necessarily 3rd 69 the

792 7th 92 a 2nd 79 necessarily

891 8th 91 necessarily 1st 89 The

As can be seen. the word necessarily should be predicted and the spectator directed accordingly. If the word 'necessary' comes up instead, it will deepen the mystery I

Everyone of the effects possible with Codex-X must be pre-sented in a serious vein and with as much dramatics as possible. These effects represent terrible powers and your audience will love you for them.

k

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