Four Kings Card Trick - Card Tricks Revealed

Take the four kings out of a pack of cards, and also two other court cards, which are not to be shown. Spread out the kings before the spectators, but conceal the two court cards between the third and fourth kings.

Lay the cards face downwards on the table. Take off the bottom card, which is of course one of the kings; show it as if by accident, and place it on the top.
Take the next card, (which is one of the court cards,) and place that in the middle of the pack.
Take the third card, (i. e. the second court card,) and place that also near the middle of the pack. There will then be one king at the top and three at the bottom.
Ask any one to cut the cards, and to examine them when he will find all four kings together in the middle of the pack.

It is better to use court cards to place between the third and fourth kings, because if the cards should slip aside, they would not be so readily distinguished as common cards.

Excerpt from the book:
EVERY BOY’S BOOK: A COMPLETE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF SPORTS AND AMUSEMENTS.
EDITED BY EDMUND ROUTLEDGE.
With more than Six Hundred Illustrations
FROM ORIGINAL DESIGNS.
LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,
THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE.
NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET.
1869.