MAGIC, The Magazine For Magicians

MAGIC INDEX 1.8

Welcome to the download page for the MAGIC Magazine electronic index, Version 1.8, which indexes the September 1991 through December 2011 issues of MAGIC Magazine.

Download Magic Index 1.8 as a uncompressed, tab-separated text file: MAGIC_Index_thru_2011_12.tab

(You may be required to Save As "MAGIC_Index_thru_2011_12.tab" from your browsers File menu.)

The beauty of maintaining this index electronically is that updates can be made as often as necessary. When a new version is ready, we will make it available through our web site in its entirety. All you will need to do is keep the same field definitions (or create them again), dump the old data and import the new.

HOW TO USE THE INDEX

First download the text or zip file using the links above.

Create a new database document (using your own database program) with the following "text" fields:



Category


SubCategory


Title


Subject


Author Creator [F]


Author Creator [L]


Department


Year


Month


Page #


Publication

Import the data from "MAGIC Index 1.8" into this new database document. (If choices are presented, the file format is text with tab separators.) A total of 11,785 records should have been imported. You are now ready to start using "MAGIC Index 1.8."

HOW THE INDEX IS SET UP

Category - There are only three categories in use: Tricks, Product Reviews, and Features. Within Features, we have included all the recurring columns and departments with the exceptions of tricks being taught (Tricks) and items being reviewed (Product Reviews).

SubCategory - This field is only used with Tutorial and Product Reviews. It is designed to further categorize these items. Tutorials are subcategorized as: Bar Bets (cards, coins, misc., money); Cards (gimmicked, prepared, unprepared); Coins (gimmicked, prepared, unprepared); Misc. (from balloons to zippers); Stage (from cards to straws). Product Reviews are subcategorized as: Publications, Tapes, Tricks.

Title - This is the title of the trick being taught or the item being reviewed, or the title of a feature story or column (not the recurring name of the column or department). In the case of news items appearing in "Inside Magic," no titles are used. In case you are printing a hard copy of this index, we have placed the words "the," "a" and "an" at the end of the title for alphabetizing.

Subject - This field is only used for Features. Where names are used as a subject, we’ve listed the last name first, usually followed by additional information in parenthesis — Copperfield, David (Walk of Fame).

Author Creator - The [F] refers to first name, the [L] to last name. These fields are used for the author of an article appearing in the magazine, as well as the inventor or author of an item being reviewed. Where two or more people need to be credited, we have created a separate record for each name, adding the word "plus" in parenthesis after the last name.

Department - This is the recurring name of a column or section of the magazine (from "Conjuring" to "Top Ten").

Year - The year the item appeared.

Month - The month the item appeared.

Page Number - The page or pages the item appeared on.

Publication - Obviously, MAGIC Magazine (included in case you wish to mix indexes with other publications).

Every effort has been made to supply accurate information within this index. We’re sure, however, that errors have crept in. There is also the very real possibility that there may be better ways to list the information. We ask for your help in passing on errors and suggestions, so that we may make future versions even better. Until that time, we hope "MAGIC Index 1.8" serves you well.