Fred Kaps: Master Magician

There are magicians. And then there was Fred Kaps.

Fred Kaps was a performer of legendary talent. Born in 1926, his talent took him around the world, astonishing audiences with a level of skill and charisma that felt impossible. He created strong, original effects that are still performed today, and remains the only magician in history to win the FISM Grand Prix three times.

That is one of the many reasons why, when his biography was first published in 2021, it sold out almost immediately. English copies rarely pop up for sale, and when they do, they sell for high prices.

To mark what would have been Kaps' 100th birthday, Vanishing Inc. is proud to release a special centenary edition of Fred Kaps: Master Magician. This new edition is strictly limited to just 500 individually numbered copies and will never be reprinted.

Inside this gorgeous, 260-page, hardcover biography, you'll find the secrets behind his legendary Salt Trick, the Homing Card, his Silk Transposition, and many other Kaps classics. But more important than the method, you’ll discover work behind the piece. Things like why his costumes were always midnight blue, the story behind his fake currency, and the countless small decisions that added up to something extraordinary.

Dutch magician and Michel van Zeist went deep into Kaps’ archives, working directly with Kaps’ family and close friends to put together this truly incredible book. You’ll get to learn about Fred Kaps from his daughter, his director, his friends, and colleagues like Jeff McBride, Hans Klok, and James Swain. Together, these stories and anecdotes paint a full picture, beginning with a young boy learning tricks from his barber, performing magic during wartime, and eventually being shaped by the legendary Henk Vermeyden into the greatest magician of his generation.

One hundred years after his birth, this is the tribute Fred Kaps deserves. Get it now, exclusively at Vanishing Inc.

Table of Contents

• From the author - Michel van Zeist
• Foreword - Jeff McBride
• How it all began - Magician barber
• Rotterdam - The city where Bram Bongers was born
• Triks - One of the first reports on Mystica
• Fakir skills as seen and told by Mystica - Triks publication
• Mystica writes from Surabaya - Triks publication
• Mystica's last airmail letter - Triks publication
• Mystica's win in Arnhem (1950) - Triks publications
• World championship Acts Barcelona (1950), Amsterdam (1955), Liège (1961)
• The Salt Trick - Kaps' signature trick
• Fred Kaps stage money - Bills in different sizes
• Auction - Kaps' attributes under the hammer
• Barry Schatz-Bongers - Daughter on her magical father
• Fred Kaps said… You were thinking of… - Triks publication
• Fred Kaps' Silk Transposition - Triks publication
• OLD and yet NEW - Triks publication
• Bob Driebeek (Aenigma) - Jan Paymans interview
• Dick Harris - Jan Paymans interview
• Tel Smit - Jan Paymans interview
• Marconick - Jan Paymans interview
• Ted Lion - Jan Paymans interview
• Flip Hallema - FL!P about Fred
• ANOTHERWAYTODOIT - Triks publication
• In Your Pocket, Sir! - Triks publication
• A manipulation without sleight of hand - Triks publication
• Photos (1) - The Master Magician captured on camera
• Gerrit ten Cate - Fred Kaps' "man from the Veluwe"
• Utrecht - Peltlaan 79
• Kaps' colleagues in the theater - Wim Kan, Snip & Snap and Rens van Dorth
• Richard Ross - Jan Paymans interview
• Fred Kaps' books - The magician's library, the Fred Kaps Ring and Véronique Ross' Magic Art Center in Bennebroek
• George Tokaya - Kaps' damaged magician's case
• The Homing Card - Four red cards and one black
• The Gypsy Curse - Fred Kaps and Brother John Hamman
• Television - From The Ed Sullivan Show to Opus 13
• James Swain - Fred Kaps at the SAM convention (Boston, 1974)
• The newspapers about Kaps (1) - Car accident, court and color television
• Photos (2) - The Master Magician captured on camera
• Henk Vermeyden - The Magic Dandy on the canal
• Amsterdam - Studios of Larette and Vermeyden
• Henk Vermeyden, The Godfather of the Art of Magic - Jan Paymans interview
• MAGIC in U.S.A. - Triks publication
• 21 days in Hotel Indonesia – Djakarta - Triks publication
• Cardin and the legendary M7 club - Jan Paymans interview
• Kaps by Royal Command - Performance at Buckingham Palace
• Tonny Eyk - Music & Magic
• Photos (3) - The Master Magician captured on camera
• The newspapers about Kaps (2) - Backgammon, Indonesia and royal performance
• Max Mindlin, Kaps' director - Jan Paymans interview
• Hanny Morpurgo - Max Mindlin's former wife
• Professional views on doing professional magic for the layman - By Fred Kaps, published in Pabular magazine
• Hans Kazàn - A personal meeting at Kaps' house
• The Disappearing Wand - Simplified version of Kaps' Vanishing Cane in Newspaper
• Hans Klok - Partner Dann is a fan of Fred Kaps
• How it all ended - July 23, 1980
• Epilogue - Eric Eswin
• Sources and contributions - More about Fred Kaps and a list of contributors