
Contact For Jon:
Email: JonR@conjuringarts.org
Websites: www.realworknow.com, www.jonracherbaumer.com, www.joncards.com
Jon Racherbaumer was born January 22, 1940, in Oak Park, Illinois. He spent his early years in Elmhurst, Illinois (Harlan Tarbell’s hometown), a western suburb of Chicago. His interest in magic was sparked by seeing Dr. Tarbell perform in 1950. Tarbell’s daughter, Marian, was involved in community theater with Jon’s mother at the time and soon thereafter on his eleventh birthday he received his first magic book, Tarbell Course in Magic –Volume 1. After discovering that Tarbell had donated his magic course to the local library, Jon spent many hours diligently studied each volume.
Jon joined the Mazda Mystics Club (Juniors) in 1953, a club started by Russell Shaw and his wife in Oak Park, Illinois and maintained his interest throughout his life. After moving to New Orleans, the site of Mardi Gras, jazz music, and voodoo, this Dream State was an ideal place magical things to happen. During the years between 1957 and 1965, Jon attended four universities and worked as a radio programmer, disk jockey, record promotion man, salesman, restaurant manager, male model, tree-trimmer, blackjack dealer, construction worker, warehouseman, program consultant (voluntary health agency-the Lung Association), institutional housefather (Milne Boys Home), social worker, health-club instructor, bartender, ambulance driver (at Arlington Park race track), and finally as an airlines business person for Eastern Airlines from 1965-1990 .
He has been a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians since 1966 and is a Lifetime Member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California.
He is a columnist (“On the Slant”) for Genii magazine and was a columnist and contributing editor to Stan Allen’s Magic magazine for six years. He was also the Parade Editor for the Linking Ring for over a decade and contributed to Joe Steven’s Gemini Magic Network. He also contributed at column to M-U-M (“At the Table”) in the 70s and later worked with John Moehring for three years at M-U-M and was a columnist (“The Artful Ledger”) for Antimony magazine. He has contributed scores of tricks and articles to various magazines: Genii, The New Tops, M-U-M, Linking Ring, The New Pentagram, Blue Print, Precursor, The Looking Glass, The Conjuror, and Apocalypse and has published 75 books. He received a Literary Fellowship from the Academy of Magical Arts and Sciences and was honored with Milbourne Christopher Literary Award.
Jon’s mentors were Ed Marlo and Eddie Fields and was inspired by Channing Pollock, Cardini, Don Alan, Albert Goshman, Chan Canasta, Tony Slydini, Finn Jon, Lennert Green, Tommy Wonder and Juan Tamariz. His (magic) literary influences are Martin Gardner, John Northern Hilliard, Walter Gibson, Ted Annemann, Bruce Elliott, P. Howard Lyons, and Victor Farelli.
His other interests are literature, book collecting, martial arts, philosophy, poetry, film, theater (theory), cosmology, painting, mathematical recreations, and physical culture.
He has 7 children (Karen, Michael, Jona, Jonathan, Erika, Robynn, and Ry) and 11 grandchildren (Lindsey, Matthew, Thomas, Sasha, Autumn, Ben, Adam, Allyssa, Sophina, Kirin, and Koko).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Publications
1 – The Artful Dodges of Eddie Fields (1968)
2 – On the Clock Effect (1971)
3 – The Universal Card (1972)
4 – Further Flight (1973)
5 – Hyper-Twist (1975)
6 – Kabbala Three (Lou Tannen)
Suppressed edition (1975)
Printed edition (June – 1976)
7 – Lecture Notes 1 (1976)
8 – The Mandarin Mystery Coin (1976)
9 – The Ascanio Spread (1976)
10 – Card-Coins (1977)
11 – Good Turns (1977)
12 – Arch Triumphs (1978)
13 – Kabbala – Volume 1 (October – 1980)
14 – Kabbala – Volume 2 (March – 1981) This includes the missing issues 9-10-11-12.
15 – The Lost Pages of Kabbala (May – 1981)
16 – Card Finesse (1982)
17 – Lecture Notes 2 – IBM Convention (1982)
18 – The Card Puzzle (1983)
19 – Marlo Without Tears (1983)
20 – Facsimile I
21 – At The Table (1984)
22 – Gaffed To The Hilt (1985)
A collaboration with Don England and Richard Kaufman
23 – Card Fixes (1990)
24 – Lecture Notes 3 – European Lecture Tour (July – 1991)
25 – Synergistic Sandwiches (1991)
26 – Cavorting Ladies (1991)
27 – The Wild Card Kit – First Edition (1991) spiral-bound
28 – Cabbages & Kings (1991)
29 – Lecture Notes 4 – Another Roadside Attraction (1991)
30 – Racherbaumer Papers (September – 1991)
31 – Wild Card Kit (1992) – hard-bound edition
32 – Back To The Future Classic (1992)
33 – Vintage Marlo – Volume One (1992)
34 – Pastiche (1992)
35 – Full Tilt (1992)
36 – Big-Easy Card-Cunning (1992)
37 – Chronopoly (1992)
38 – Card Finesse II (1992) hard-bound
39 – Inside Tracks – Lecture 5 (1992)
40 – Psi-Clones (1992)
40 – Compleat K.M. Move (1992)
41 – Compleat Devilish Miracle (1992)
42 – Flashpoints (1992)
43 – Imitations, Intimations (1993)
44 – Pastiche II (1994)
45 – Recycle (1994)
44 – Magie Duvivier (1996)
46 – Arcade Dreams (1997)
47 – Greater Artful Dodges of Eddie Fields (1997)
48 – The Amazing Cigar (1998)
49 – The Legendary Hierophant (1998)
50 – The Legendary Kabbala (1998)
51 – In a Class by Himself: The Legacy of Don Alan (2000)
52 – No Pipe Dreams: Trade Secrets of Mike Rogers (2002)
53 – Prime Moves (2002)
54 – Counthesarus (2005)
55 – Sankey Unleashed (2004)
56- Art and Ardor at the Card Table (2004)
57- Marlo on Erdnase (2007)
58 – Antics & Interludes
59 – Cull-Mination
60 – Lipstick Traces
61 – Muscle Moves
62 – Oil and Queens
63 – Real-Gone Aces
64 – Streamlining
65 – Finessed Controls
66 – Oiled and Watered
67 – 7 – 7 – 7
68 – Tearless Trickery
69 – Centric Doubles
70 – Clockworks
71 – Chameleon Aces
72 – Hofzinser Lost Aces
73 – Jonah Ploys
74 – Acid-Test Aces
75 – Pasteboard Warrior (Richard Turner biography)
Periodicals
THE HIEROPHANT (1969-1980)
1 – September – 1969
2 – Winter – 1969
3 – March – 1970
4 – June – 1970
5-6 (Fall/Spring 1970-71)
7 – Resurrection Issue (1975)
8 – The Last Hierophant (June-1980)
THE KABBALA
Volume 1 (1-12) September 1971 – August 1972
Volume 2 (1-8) September 1972 – April 1973 (four issues missing)
AVATAR (2 issues) 1973
PIDDLINGS & PETTIFOGGERY (January – 1972)
50 Xerox copies
STICKS & STONES
1-12 (1976)
13-24 (1977)
This leaflet was part of Son of Bat Jr. (Lloyd Jones)
96 pages, complete
SWIPE
1-7 (1991-93)
THE OLRAM FILE
Volume 1 (1-12) December 1990 – June 1992
Number 13 (September-1992)
Numbers 14-16 (1993)
MARLOPHILE
#1 (1996)
#2 (1997)
THE LOOKING GLASS
(with Richard Kaufman and Stephen Hobbs)
#1 (1995)
#2 (1996)
#3 (1997)
#4 (1998)
FACSIMILE
#1(September – 1983)
#2 (1994)
#3 (1995)
#4 (1996)
#5 (1997)
OBITER DICTA: Dust-Motes in the Grid
27 installments (available only on Joe Steven’s Gemini Network)
Foreign Editions
The Very Best of Kabbala (Richard Vollmer) 1981
The Very Best of Hierophant (Richard Vollmer) 1985
These are French translations
Edited and Re-wrote
Hauntiques (Christian Chelman)
Vis-a-Vis (Jack Avis)
Technical Editor
Magic for Dummies (with Mark Levy) (1999)