I'm cleaning out my old magic and magic files and wonder what I should do with my old TLR's. What have the rest of you done with them - or do you save them?

Terry

I save mine. They are on a bookshelf and are used for reference.

They are a goldmine of magic and history. Whenever I am looking for something "new" to do, they have yet to fail me.

Good luck with yours. Mark.

Hi Terry,

Good Question. It appears that I have done what Mark has done.

I did many years ago give away several boxes to a friend who lost his collection in a flood.

I have emailed Phil Wilmarth the editor of the "Linking Ring" and asked him what he would suggest.

It will be interesting to hear his comments.


Steve Hart

I.B.M. Membership Committe Chair

You could save them, which is what I do. Or you could sell them. My grandfather has an auction around memorial day every year and I help him sort stuff out. There are always TLRs being sold
shayna

You lovingly save them, carefully organizing them in binders on specially built bookcases. That way, after you die your heirs will that they are now in possession of a treasure trove. They will of course discover that they are completely worthless and they will curse your name as they drag them off to the dump.
It will be the last trick you will do and the one you will long be remembered for,

Why not bring some of them to a magic convention or Ring meeting and give some to the registrants or visitors? They will get to know what great columns and tricks are in our monthly publication... maybe they'll join?

Payne speaks the truth. Go back and read his message again.

Well in olden days, I often found they were quite useful for leveling out that occassional wobbley table. But I learned a trick a number of years ago in reference to my professional journals that has worked great for me. Any magazine has a lot of articles that become dated quickly, advertisements, articles that simply are not your scene, etc. So why save all that. I go through them, when I find an article of interest, or one I think I might like to read later, I tear it out. Once read, if I think it is worth keeping, I put it in a file for safe keeping and later reference, generally marked with the particular issue and year on the file.
If the file gets a bit full, I occassionally go through and give everything a second glance and eliminate that which at the time I saved it I thought was worth saving , but now is not. Keeps all under control and I have reference to that move or that article that I need to put my finger on at some future date.

I was going to do what photius mentioned, as far as tearing out certain things and indexing them, but I have yet to get around to it. What I am now realizing is that articles or effects that didn't intrest me before that I would have discarded, are far more interesting and do-able now that my skill level has increased. So, looks like I'll just be saving them on the bookshelf, and, hopefully someday indexing them. I get a kick out of looking at back issues for the ads as well, just to see which products took off and which ones flopped. If you really don't have the room for them though, new members of your ring will be greatly appreciative of them (I know I was). How bout the ring keeping a library of them somewhere that everyone has access to? Just a thought.

I used to give them to younger magicians who didn't have the resources to join. Then people who are into "ethics" told me I was a bad person for giving away free magic. Now I just throw them away.

Bsears, you a still a bad person. Think of the garbage men who are getting free magic! You must burn them, or tear them up into tiny, tiny peices first.

I will add that you could always send them to me, and I will destroy them for you.

Honest. Tiny, tiny pieces.

Bsears...I'd have had to laugh at those "ethical" nuts who told you that.

That is just ridiculous and one of the dumbest things one could say to another magician. They must be legends in their own minds!

Mark.

I still have the issues which contain the New Jersey ring minutes of young
David Kotkin (aka Copperfield) doing some commercial effects for
the ring... ..

I have actually started (carefully) pulling out the articles/sections I think I might want to reference/read in the future, cleaning the rough (bound) edges up with either scissors or paper cutter, then punching holes in them and placing them in a 3-ring binder for future reference. This allows me to 1) save the things I might want for the future; and 2) minimize the clutter on my bookshelves (I have plenty of other stuff there without adding periodicals to the mess).

See, and I'm the worst of both worlds.

I save all my issues, because I never know what I might want to refrence in them, and I photocopy the stuff I like to sort into three ring binders where I keep that stuff by category.

All the extra work of the archiving method, without any of the saved space! You can imagine my wife just loves me!

Haha! And I thought I was bad, leaving my torn out articles in a manila folder until I got time to clean the edge and bind them. You definitely win! I tend to be a pack rat and go through minimalist phases.....

bbbaaahhaahahahahaaa that was hilarious... and so true...