This is an eBook reproduction of the classic book "Come a Little Closer", which spans forty years of unique friendships and a shared love of magic that take you from the halcyon days when eight young London magicians haunted the Magic Dealers, the Variety Theatres and street-corner cafes every Saturday, right up to the present day.

This youthful coterie of Cagliostros was the spawning ground of a style of magic that in those days was called "pocket tricks," which led to enthusiasm for and development of some of the finest contemporary magic that is now deemed classic.

Some of the group became world names in the art while others retired from magic, and some later re-emerged in their twilight years to demonstrate a continuing passion.

It's hard nowadays to visualize Jack Avis, Alex Elmsley, Roy Walton, Bobby Bernard, Ted Danson and John Derris sitting in cafes, making two cups of coffee last four hours while they demonstrated, argued and theorized on the pros and cons of close-up magic, having just read the latest magazines from the USA and meeting the parade of overseas magicians visiting London.

But from such youthful zeal emerged a thinking and style of magic that was to withstand the years and make some of these men world-famous.

Who in magic does not use the Elmsley Count? Is there anyone who has not read and used one of Jack Avis's five hundred published items, and surely there is no self-respecting card magician who today would not include Roy Walton's "The Collectors" or "Card Warp" in his repertoire?

If you love close-up magic, you will find material between these covers that you can use - some requiring the basic skill needed by any practicing close-up worker, but all requiring presentation - the very essence of good magic.

The book is a tribute to the deep fellowship that often comes with the practice of magic, a fellowship that has lasted in this case since the '50s. It is in this environment of a shared passion that fine magic is often evolved, and I am certain that you will sense this as you read the thinking, inventiveness and comments of a group of magicians who early on found their own serendipity.

Contents

• Foreword
• Introduction

Session One: Jack Avis

• Cards of Pegasus
• The Siva Fold
• The Siva Folded Card to Wallet
• True Grit

Session Two: Bobby Bernard

• Jet Transportation
• BB Drops Them Again
• H-E-A-V-Y

Session Three : Ted Danson

• The Seance Card Trick
• Give Me a Ring
• It's a Date

Session Four: John Derris

• Monte Cristo Ring
• One in Three
• Hockleys' Coin Vanish
• Staggering
• The Big Squeeze

Session Five: Alex Elmsley

• Point of Departure
• Colour Filter
• Card Counting Rhyme
• No-Calc
• Oyster Shells

Session Six: Arthur Holland

• Cut and Restored Cigarette

Session Seven: Hugh Scott

• Biography
• Fern Court Glide Bluff

Session Eight: Tommy Vanderschmidt

• Repeat Card in Hat

Session Nine: Roy Walton

• Knifed
• All Hands on Deck
• The Alternate Shift
• The Invisible Plan

Session Ten

• What's Wrong With Magic