London, Nov 28 (ANI): If you have ever wanted to learn how to hide objects up your sleeve and communicate with colleagues by tying shoelaces in a special way, then you are in luck - for a Cold War-era CIA manual guiding agents in the arts of deception and stage-style trickery is headed forbook shelves.

Written in 1953 by a well-known performer called John Mulholland, the Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception included tips for hiding small objects, handing off documents and spiking food and drinks with “knockout” drops.

Espionage historian Keith Melto and Bob Wallace, a former CIA director, uncovered the manual. The new release came from the only surviving copy of Mulholland’s work, they said, and the rest were destroyed by the agency in the 1970s.

The duo have turned the manual into a book, with chapters on “the surreptitious removal of objects by women,” and making and concealing “droppers” for liquids and powders, reports The Independent.

Mulholland advises, a good trick “must be simple in its basic idea” and should be tirelessly “rehearsed” in a mirror.

Also shoelaces can prove useful in passing on different messages. A chapter in the book outlines how different knots can mean “I have information”, “Follow me”, and “I have brought another person.” (ANI)