I want to make nice collection of the best books on Close Up Magic.
I have many of them already, but it will be great to have list of some of the best books on close up...

Hi Popcalinda,

This would be MUCH more than a nice list. It would be an almost impossible undertaking even if you just take into account the books in written in English. Add in all other languages, and, well, its' a bit mammoth, no?

Also, "best" is a problematic term because of its subjectivity.

I would suggest having a look at the following:

http://magicref.tripod.com/books.htm

and

http://archive.denisbehr.de/


Namaste,
Vlad

I would like to suggest that having a collection of close up magic books require books on theory and performance, presentation.
I must concur with Vlad that "best" books are highly subjective.

Well I have no problem being the one whom may be called subjective.

I shall list for you the BEST books on close-up magic (and if that little sentence doesn't get you more responses than you wanted, I just don't know what to do!)

Magic and Showmanship, Henning Nelms

Our Magic, Maskelyne & Devant

The Trick Brain, Showmanship and Magic by Misdirection, Fitzkee

Then I would suggest the Ortiz theory books, Designing Miracles and Strong Magic. Follow that with (finally we are getting to tricks!) Close's Workers Series, and lets say? Apocalypse?

There you have a recipe for being a better magi then most, and the tools to prove it!

JH

Great! How about David Regal books? I like books with nice drawings and photos.
Regal books have a lot of close up magic inside...

Close-up Card Magic (Harry Lorayne)
Collected Magic of Derek Dingle
Collected Almanac
Secrets of Bro Hamman
The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings
The Magic of Michael Ammar
The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley
Paul Curry's Worlds Beyond
Carneycopia (John Carney)
Impossibilia (John Bannon)
Vernon's books
Eugene Burger's books
Sankey Panky
Kort: The Magic of Milt Kort
Vortex (Tom Stone)

Stars of Magic
Apocolypse Vols. 1-4

Art of Astonishment 3 Vol. Set (Paul Harris)
Expert Coin Magic (Roth)
Art of Close-up Magic 2 Vol. Set
For Your Entertainment Pleasure (Daryl)
Secrets of a Puerto Rican Gambler (Daryl)
Books of Wonder Set (Tommy Wonder)
Complete Walton 2 Vol. set (Roy Walton)
The Cardician (Ed Marlo)
Theatrical Close-Up (Peter Samelson)
Aldo Colombini's Books

Don't, repeat - don't - get LORAYNE: THE CLASSIC COLLECTION, Volumes 1 and 2. Then, after that, you can NOT get L:TCC, volume 3!!

THose are great choices which contain many of Harry's books including "Close-up Card Magic".

David Acer Natural Selections I & II
David Acer Random Acts of Magic
David Acer "Seven By ..." Series

My humble, means not-a-lot to anyone important opinion is that David Acer IS AMONG THE TOPS IN CLOSE UP! His stuff is amazing and just so commercial. You will not be disappointed.

Regards, Barrett James

All great choices - and obviously subjective. What the hell, I will join the fray and add that Simon Aronson's material is absolutely go for the throat magic.

Stewart James in Print and The James File are filled with mind ripping magic meant to maul

Popcalinda mentioned David Regal. Yes, the photos are nice and the magic is GREAT, BUT, David Regal's ESSAYS are worth more than twice the price of admission alone.

Mentzer's Card Cavalcade series is a treasure trove.

The Best of Friends trilogy should keep one busy for 10 lifetimes

Have to chime in as some would expect on classic journals here:

Apocalypse, as mentioned by Larry Barnowski, is an astounding four hardback volume collection of great magic spanning 20 years and 2880 pages.

The Jinx: Need I REALLY say more on this one??

Okay I am not going to list every journal I own and extol the merits of each, but, within the hundreds of thousands of pages of magic's journals are literally tens of thousands of GREAT magic that is BEGGING to be performed.

I should however make note of the WONDERFUL gift to Genii subscribers thanks to Richard Kaufman in cooperation with the Conjuring Arts Research Center, and that is the ability for Genii subscribers to have access to the ENTIRE run of Genii from its inception in the 1930s to the 21st century! All of this for 57.00/year!

It amazes me that journals seem to take a back seat to monographs when in fact many of magic's classics saw the light of day in journals! What's more, there are effects unknown that WOULD be classics if magicians and mentalists would take the plunge.

Yes Adam, I am championing the journals yet again

अहिंसा

Vlad

Classical Magic of Larry Jennings
Art of Astonishment series
Cardshark - David Ortiz
Dear Mister Fantasy - John Bannon
Card Magic of Nick Trost

Secrets of Brother Hamman
All of John Bannon's books
Art Of Astonishment
One Degree
Darwin Ortiz At the Card Table
Card Shark
Strong Magic
Designing Miracles

Kevin

Collected Almanac
The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings
The Magic of Michael Ammar
Tricks Of My Trade By Doug Conn (Now e-Book)

Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz
on the cover, you can see "creative showmanship for the close up magician",
but I think it's not only for a close up magician, this book "is a must" for Magician that want to make your magic powerful and leave your audience with no clue as to how you performed your tricks.
With the knowledge gained from this book my magic has been taken to a whole new level. I highly recommend you get this book.