Illustrated book consists of 340 pages - size 16 cm x 24 paperback.

A rich collection of incredible timeless magic tricks, inspired by the magic of all the great illusionism (Robert-Houdin in Hofzinser, from Annemann Al Baker and Al Koran, from Erdnase Marlo), all filtered by the passion and inventiveness of Otto from Baratta, in ODABA art.
The original texts - richly illustrated by the author's hand - are accompanied by comments, written by Raul Cremona and Mariano Tomatis with the contribution of many other magicians, who shed light on the origins and they indicate the great interest variants produced in the last decades. This book gives, therefore, a blast from the past with the scent of the future, because it reproduces the atmosphere of an era while offering a myriad of references to explore, to conduct their own magical journey of new creative paths.

comedy magic, cabaret and mentalism by the great creative of Italian magic!

• 3 chapters, 13 sections, 63 effects, 304 pages of great magic!

Ottorino From Baratta (1909-1983), aka ODABA, fond of conjuring and ventriloquism, as well as painting and music, he joined the Italian Magic Club in 1956. Its focus is immediately on mentalism, then specialties uncommon in Italy, and became a reference point in a short time for all Italians illusionists, thanks to his numerous articles published in the journal Modern Magic. Not only public techniques and secrets extrapolated from foreign books, but modifies them improving them, it invents new ones, fights to make people understand the importance of a careful presentation, managing to be innovative and forward-looking, so that its effects, and its counsel appear very valid also to the modern reader. Since 1968 Otto From Baratta is also dedicated to comedy magic by creating the character of Ali Baba: door so the scene revisited old games and original inventions, including you remember the waistcoat number that changes color nine times that earned him praise and awards in both nationally and internationally.

INTRODUCTION MARIANO TOMATIS:

This book comes from a curious cross between past and present. The collected games here were published in Modern Magic, the magazine of the Italian Magic Club, between the Sixties and the early Eighties signed by Ottorino From Baratta. This anthology offers, therefore, the cross-section of two decades of Italian magic, seen through the eyes of an eclectic magician - able to dress alternatively the role of the brilliant Ali Baba and the most solemn mentalist Odaba. Re-propose the effects of distance in half a century imposed a faithful approach the texts and original illustrations, but suggested at the same time to integrate it with original contributions in step with the modern sensibility. First initiative engine was Raul Cremona, who with patience has recovered all of Dalla Baratta articles and designed, together with Francesco Maria Mugnai, the idea of ​​this anthology; to place each effect in its historical context and deepen origins and evolutions, Raul got me involved in the work. The amount of work required for a thorough search led me to extend the project to a small community of experts, kicking off the first Italian experiment in crowdsourcing field illusionistic. Internet has provided support for the creation of a shared working environment: as for the note Wikipedia, the idea was to "capture" part of the free time of a few enthusiasts to build a base of annotations on the various magical effects. All games were then digitized, cataloged and shared. A discussion forum crafted made it possible to keep track of each operation and exchange views on various issues. To work it has contributed more than all Marco Pusterla, but have also provided useful reports Fida Marco, Marco Rebella and Vincenzo Alfano. The historical research phase contributed in a timely manner even Busani Francesco, Roberto Giobbi, Aurelio Paviato, Gianfranco Preverino and Judicial Police Varola. Silvio Capes kindly provided access to its vast library of magazines and books of magic, and the Denis Behr database (archive.denisbehr.de) and Bill Kalush (askalexander.org) were a valuable source of information. In short, what he was code-named "Odaba Project" aimed to leverage the power of Web 2.0 to conceive a nostalgic - yet modern and creative - homage to a character almost forgotten the Italian magic. Alex Rusconi went to Ottorino human roots, tracing its life through interviews and field research. Raul Cremona took over the general magic effects and comedians, and for each reported personal ideas, memories and comments scattered. I was in charge of the mentalistic section, the most closely related to my studies: the collected material within the small community of scholars has allowed me to process the postscript that close each effect. The basic idea was to transcend the classic catalog of effects, expanding each game with historical notes, trivia and variants. Finally Francesco Maria Mugnai has reviewed and slightly adapted the original texts and took care of the issue. The result is a rich collection of magic tricks that are inspired by the magic of all the great illusionism (Robert-Houdin in Hofzinser, from Annemann Al Baker, from Erdnase Marlo), games that in recent decades have produced variants of great interest. This book gives, therefore, a blast from the past with the scent of the future, because it reproduces the atmosphere of an era while offering a myriad of references to explore, to conduct their own magical journey of new creative paths.