Sources page biographical material

6.BA. CUTTING A CARD SO ONE CAN PASS THROUGH IT
Ozanam. 1725. 1725: vol. IV, prob. 34, pp. 436 437 & fig. 40, plate 12 (14).

Minguet. 1733. Pp. 115-117. (1755: 83-84; 1864: 112-113; not noted in 1822, but it's likely to be at p. 138.) Similar to Ozanam, 1725.

Alberti. 1747. Art. 34, p. 208-209 (110) & fig. 42, plate XI, opp. p. 210 (109). Copied from Ozanam, 1725.

Family Friend 3 (1850) 210 & 241. Practical puzzle -- No. XVII. Shows a 3 inch by 5 inch card. Repeated as Puzzle 15 -- The wonder puzzle in (1855) 339 with solution in (1856) 28.

Magician's Own Book. 1857. Prob. 10: The cardboard puzzle, pp. 269 & 294. Problem shows 3 inch by 5 inch card. Answer calls it "the cut card puzzle". c= Landells, Boy's Own Toy-Maker, 1858, p. 142. = Book of 500 Puzzles, 1859, pp. 83 & 108. = Boy's Own Conjuring Book, 1860, prob. 9, pp. 230 & 256.

Indoor & Outdoor. c1859. Part II, prob. 7: The cardboard puzzle, p. 129. No diagram, so the solution is a bit cryptic.

The Secret Out. 1859. How to Cut a Visiting Card for a Cat to Jump through it, p. 382.

Illustrated Boy's Own Treasury. 1860. No. 27, pp. 400 & 440. Identical to Magician's Own Book, but solution omits the sentence: "A laurel leaf may be treated in the same manner."

Magician's Own Book (UK version). 1871. To cut a card for one to jump through, p. 124. He adds: "The adventurer of old, who, inducing the aborigines to give him as much land as a bull's hide would cover, and made it into one strip by which acres were enclosed, had probably played at this game in his youth." See 6.AD.

Elliott. Within-Doors. Op. cit. in 6.V. 1872. Chap. 1, no. 2: The cardboard puzzle, pp. 27 & 30 31. No diagram, so the solution is a bit cryptic.

Lemon. 1890. Cardboard puzzle, no. 140, pp. 23 & 102. = Sphinx, no. 467, pp. 65 & 113.

J. B. Bartlett. How to walk through a laurel leaf. The Boy's Own Paper 12 (No. 587) (12 Apr 1890) 440.

Hoffmann. 1893. Chap. X, no. 28: The cut playing card, pp. 346 & 385 386 = Hoffmann Hordern, p. 243.

Benson. 1904. The elastic cardboard puzzle, pp. 200 201.

Dudeney. Cutting-out paper puzzles. Cassell's Magazine ?? (Dec 1909) 187-191 & 233-235. With photo of Dudeney going through the card.

Collins. Book of Puzzles. 1927. Through a playing card, pp. 16-17.