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Description
MORE killer magic that you’re NOT doing!
A guidebook to fabulous but forgotten material curated by yours truly…
I’ve been making notes and sticking Post-its in all my books for decades, so I have hundreds and hundreds of great tricks book-marked, annotated and logged, and after some (not so subtle) prompting by friends I finally decided to collect 100 of them together and publish them in a book.
That book – Hidden Gems – proved far more popular than I ever expected! So here we are with Vol. 2 and another 100 killer tricks that most of us have either forgotten about or never even seen before.
These are tricks that define the very concept of ‘hidden in print’. In each entry I list the trick, where you can find it, why I love it and why YOU should look it up. I always describe the effect, occasionally the presentation, but NEVER the method.
Here are a few samples:
Hidden Gem #14: ‘The Trick That Cannot Be Reconstructed’ by Dai Vernon, The Vernon Chronicles Vol. 2 (p89). I am a huge fan of two-card transpositions and I’m always swapping methods and info about new ones I find with my closest magic friends. Except for this one. Sorry fellas! It is a three-phase transpo that just looks so utterly impossible. No dupes or gaffs, just Vernon genius.
Hidden Gem #52: ‘H2O’ by Jack Curtis, Distorted Thoughts (p30). This is a beautifully offbeat effect where you twice predict the amount of water a participant will pour into a jug (the prediction takes the form of a sketch) before the tables are turned and the participant predicts how much water you will pour. Great routining and a clever use of complimentary methods that completely cancel each other out.
Hidden Gem #73: ‘True Pencil Through Bill’ by Vanni Bossi, The Aretalogy of Vanni Bossi (p182). If there is one trick that I wish you could see performed before you learn how it’s done, this is it. It is the perfect trick: you really shove a pencil through the middle of a bank note, allowing it to be cleanly seen from every angle. And then you restore the note so that there is no hole. Really! No switch, regular note/bill and normal pencil. This is another once-in-a-lifetime creation and it demands far wider performance while there is still time (you’ll understand what thatmeans once you read the method).
Appreciation for the Hidden Gems series:
“I am in awe with your astuteness, book knowledge and fine sense for what is good and what not. Again, a great selection of hidden gems. Keep on this series, Mark, please!” – Alexander de Cova
“I confess that I would prefer to NOT recommend this ebook, purely for selfish reasons. It’s a treasure chest that will unlock your library and send you racing to fill in any gaps. And I just had to buy a book I didn’t have. This ebook is going to cost me a ****ing fortune!” – R. Paul Wilson
“Mark has curated a spectacular collection! I am like a kid in a candy store with so many effects and routines I haven’t even heard of before. The knowledge and insight that has gone into Hidden Gems is incredible.” – Bro Gilbert
“In magic part of our daily ritual is to look for the hidden gems, the real treasures, the real magic. Mark Elsdon is one of the best read ‘treasure’ hunters I know of. When he points out a vein of treasure I explore. In this book Mark doesn’t teach tricks he’s created. Instead he points out sources and effects that you should explore. He’s got great taste in material, meaning you will skip a lot of fodder and simply find some uncovered miracles. If you love finding great magic this book will be a treasure map you will delight in.” – Tim Trono
“Let’s face it; we all know that some of the best stuff is hiding in plain sight. We have all missed a beauty that was staring us right in the face. Well…imagine a book that does the incredible job of giving the savvy magician a second look at that killer material. Mark’s Hidden Gems does exactly that! A collection of high-impact magic, cherry picked to only give you the best of the best. Polish up these Hidden Gems. They are a true treasure. And so is Mark’s ebook.”
– Jonathan Friedman
“Whether you are looking for unique new pieces for your pro working repertoire or killers for your next magic session, Mark has done the hard work for you! There’s gold in these pages from some of the greatest minds in Magic. I’m equally thrilled and annoyed that this collection has been put together; it’s a must-buy.” – James Went
“Choosing new material is a tough process as you have to wade through lots and lots of garbage, to find even a single piece that’s worthy of your time and effort. But not anymore – Mark has done all the hard (and expensive!) work for us so we can only focus on the fantastic, overlooked effects that nobody else is doing! Hidden Gems has my highest recommendation!” – Iain Moran
“Loved this eBook! Hidden Gems is such a great idea for a publication, and will start many hours of treasure hunting – and Mark has gone to the trouble of ensuring that you will be uncovering gold. Highest recommendation.” – Liam Montier
