S. W. Erdnase is a pseudonym used by the author of The Expert at the Card Table, a book detailing sleight of hand, cheating and legerdemain using playing cards. Still considered essential reading for any card magician, the book has been in publication since 1902. Erdnase's true identity is one of the enduring mysteries of the magic community.
Identity
S. W. Erdnase was most likely a way for the author to conceal his real identity so he wouldn't be arrested, since Federal laws at the time prohibited the publication and distribution of "obscene" material. In the late 19th and early 20th century, many judges considered books on gambling methods obscene. S. W. Erdnase spelled backwards is "E. S. Andrews" leading many investigators to search for people named Andrews as possible candidates.
has proposed that a small-time con man named Milton Franklin Andrews was the author. Another proponent who researched this theory was Barton Whaley, in his book The Man Who Was Erdnase, which contains eyewitness interviews from the 1940s. Andrews was wanted by police for questioning in relation to a murder inquiry. When the police found Andrews he shot himself dead after fatally shooting his female companion. Andrews was only 33, as stated in The Man Who was Erdnase. Others argue against Andrews being Erdnase because the known examples of his writing are very much inferior to the exceptional writing of The Expert at the Card Table. There has been newer evidence since the year 2000 that puts to rest the assumption that Milton Franklin Andrews was Erdnase. It is obvious that Andrews was a card cheat but that is as far as his connection goes. Other historians have also found other men that could have indeed been S.W. Erdnase.
Some argue that Erdnase was probably a well-educated, locally prominent individual, hiding behind an alias to protect his social standing. The late David Alexander, a magician and private detective, did quite a bit of work to find a better and more possible candidate than Milton Franklin Andrews, and he proposed that Erdnase was a prominent mining engineer named Wilbur Edgerton Sanders. Since Alexander's death, others have researched Wilbur Edgerton Sanders. Genii Magazine devoted a large portion of its September 2011 issue to an exploration of Alexander's theory, providing substantial circumstantial evidence that links Sanders to Erdnase.
E. S. Andrews
Todd Karr has identified a Midwestern-based con artist and business swindler named E. S. Andrews who was active around the turn of the century and whose biography and range of known locations seems to fit Erdnase's. Also, E.S. Andrews spelled backwards is S.W. Erdnase.
L'Homme Masqué
has advanced the theory that Erdnase was written by the Peruvian magician named "L'Homme Masqué", who lived in Europe.
