Hi, in my library of roughtly about 250 books, pamplets and lecture notes, I noticed the other day that the vast majority of it (i would say 80%)is card magic. Now I love card magic, but I am now in search of non card close up effects. There are some close up effects here and there in some of the books , but that is too few and not enough. I do have the Close Up cavalcade books, vernon chronicles, art of close up magic 1 and 2, apocalypse books and most of the major publications. I am looking for any suggestions you may have in non card close up books or books that have a good balance of card and non card close up magic.

Speaking of magic other than cards, I like linking rings of all sorts of sizes, from 12 inches to 4 inches to 3 to 1 to even linking finger rings.

I just watched WGM 4 and there was Tabary doing a rope routine, how refreshing!

Visit http://www.penguinmagic.com and click on their close-up section. Just ignore the card tricks.

Have fun in magic!

Let me reclarify my question. I have been in magic about 12yrs and have about 250 books, lecture notes, and pamplets. My first love is card magic but about 80% of what I have is card magic. I do do other close up effects besides cards. I do a ring and rope routine, sponge balls, linking safety pins, thumb tip work and some rope etc. What I am looking for is some literature. I prefer books rather than videos. Let me give you an idea of some of the things I have that I enjoy reading that have a mixture of close up. The Steven Spill booklet is great. a few card items but he has some wonderful non card close up, Pallbearers and Apocalypse - Great mixture of effects, Troy Hooser - a few cards but mainly coins and a few other things, Daryl - great mixture. I guess what I am looking for is some suggestions on some good non card close up magic. I try to stay away from gaffed effects that don't clean up at the end, just a personal preference. I do most of the standard stuff just looking for something different. I've heard the Curtis Kam book is pretty good.

For a great closeup effect, it's hard to beat a good paddle trick. Although sleight-of-hand is required, it's very easy to master. I suggest you take a look at the Diamond Tips offered by Magic Warehouse at http://themagicwarehouse.com/closeup4.html#sp2423. I've developed a good patter story about trying to buy a present for my wife/mother/girlfriend and not being able to make up my mind as to which color or style of diamond to get.

Because these jeweled paddles use both ends and both sides of the paddle, three changes are possible on each paddle. To my mind, that makes them superior to say, the Color Changing Knives, which is basically another paddle-type effect with only one change per knive. Plus, you can't beat the price!

I also agree with a prior post that the Linking Rings can be an excellent closeup effect, especially the smaller Ninja Rings, which use a similar method but a very different handling than the standard Linking Rings. Take a look at Shoot Ogawa's DVD, see http://themagicwarehouse.com/vidcl4.html#dv9672 and decide if the Ninja Rings are your cup of tea. SETH

Sorry, ggarcia, I misread your question; you wanted books, not effects.

In that case, take a look at "The Magic of Michael Ammar," http://www.themagicwarehouse.com/booksge5.html#bk8056. This has a nice mix of everything, but mostly all close-up magic, along with some great essays on misdirection and performance tips. It also contains Michael's routine for the Cups & Balls, which may be the oldest, and perhaps still the best close-up trick. SETH

I have check out the Deep Astonishment Series from Paul Harris? I realize there are a lot of card effects but if I'm not mistaken there's a number of very good non card effects as well.

Joe

Two more books worth looking into 1)The Dai Vernon Book of Magic 2)The Art of Close-UP Magic...both writen by Lewis Ganson..both have lots of good magic that is not cards....although the Vernon book does have some card stuff, and excellent at that! You may also want to look for Scarne on Magic Tricks (I think that is the name...it's been awhile since I looked at my copy).

Mike

The Close-up Cavalcade series by Jerry Mentzer has a wealth of good material in it.

You can try Ray Cosby's Impossible card magic. Also, Dan Harlan's Rubber Band Magic..

I'll second Harlan's Rubberband Magic....

Do you have Richard's Almanac? (it's not all cards!)

Yes, I have Richard's Almanac and I also have the Harlan band material. Has anyone read the new David Ben book - tricks or the Milt Kort book? I heard they're pretty good.

I highly recommend the Harry Riser book for excellently routined versions of classsic effects. The books is over half effects with cards but there's about 40% non card effects. Also, Roger Klause's book has some excellently routined non card stuff.

I'm also curious about the Milt Kort book. I expected to have it by now but I guess Mr Minch went to Magic Live without shipping my order. Oh well, I can wait:)

Dave

Or, you can branch out with coins, dices, poker chips, rubber bands, paper bills and stuff like that.

I highly recommend Dreamweaver by Enchantment
or
3 Ring Circus by Jay Sankey.

You might also want to try Escapology by Dixie Dooley and be a real life Houdini.

have fun in magic!

Have you looked at the stuff Ken Brooke used to sell? There is a book full of his old instructions that has some goodies. Also the Fred Kaps routines in particular play well and are practical. From his Chinese Coin Trick, to the Eleven Bill trick, more goodies for the research. Then there is the Don Alan material. I personally went for the Ramsay tricks, which after one cleans out the magician oriented feints, are actually quite good routines, with humble props. Have you looked in Down's The Art of Magic or Ganson's The Dai Vernon Book of Magic? How about the book Slydini Encores? Back in 1976, David Roth gave a lecture. Not a card trick in the lecture. The notes had a coins across, a copper/silver transposition, a chop cup routine, a coin assembly where you don't use any cards. All that and more are in his book Expert Coin Magic. And that is just off the top for starters.

I'm also curious about the Milt Kort book.

This is book is the best kept secret in magic!

Mike

Try the Pabular!

The Books of Wonder, Tarbell, Modern Coin Magic, Expert Coin Magic (David Roth) and AOA (although the majority is still cards there are real gems with other objects).
Andre

Some of these writings are quite old.
They do however cover only the specific items as in the titles.

Booklets:

• Cups and Balls - Tom Osborne
  
• The How Book of the Chop Cup - Merlyn T. Shute
  
• Sponge Ball Manipulation - Audley Walsh
  
• Tricks with a Hot Rod - Scott Anderson
  
• Clever Little Ideas Presented - (paper CLIPs) U.F. Grant
  
• Okito Coin Box - Mohammed Bey
  
• Money Magic - (bills) Mike Bornstein
  

Books:

• Encyclopedia of Cigarette Tricks - Keith Clark
  
• Practical Mental Magic - Annemann
  
• Magic with Finger Rings - Jerry Mentzer
  

There are other sources that have magic effects with objects other than cards. Ropes, reels, threads, etc., etc.
You have to look around local shops, online shops and maybe some online auctions.

Good Luck,

Art of Close-up Magic. Learn Fred Kaps' Benson Bowl routine. That's magic!