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I have read with great interest many posts about Alex Elmsley. How strange that I know so little of him since he is a cousin who I met only twice. I tried to contact him last summer as we planned to visit the UK, but he must have been sick. I would like to purchase videos of him and his magic, and am asking any of you for references on what would be the best to buy to get more of a sense of what he was like, and then where is the best place to purchase. Many thanks for any help.

Kay Elmsley Weeden

Kay,

What a wonderful story, and what a great shame you didn't get the opportunity to meet with him before he died. I don't own any of his videos or DVDs, but if your interested in his magic you may want to grab a copy of The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley by Stephen Minch. Not only does it contain many of his effects, but provides some background and history of this great man. As the book explains, much of his work was maintained and documented by a number of different magicians. You may wish to contact Stephen personally for more details.

If you are wanting some more historical references to him, Might i sugest that rather than buying the book mentioned above, you look out for a book called "come a little closer"

This book contains a nice little biog of Alex, but more importantly for you as a family member, it is Stuffed, with photographs of the young Alex, and his ascociates in his early days of magic.

Davenports in london will be able to supply this to you for sure.


D.

Dale,
Thank you for the correction. It looks as if this item is full of effects from a range of magicians from the 50s. Might get a copy myself.

pdjamez wrote:Dale,
Thank you for the correction. It looks as if this item is full of effects from a range of magicians from the 50s. Might get a copy myself.

Its a truly wonderfull book. And not expensive either.

Dale,
Any chance of posting a full review?

The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley by L&L publishing is a good reference and catalogue of the man and his magic also.

V

vic_vdb wrote:The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley by L&L publishing is a good reference and catalogue of the man and his magic also.

V

Not according to Dale.

Collected Works Volumes 1 and 2 are referred to on many magic book sites but it looks as though Vol 2 is now out of print and unobtainable. I tracked one site in the US which appeared to have stock but they've just advised that they only have Vol 1 these days.

Mandrake wrote:Collected Works Volumes 1 and 2 are referred to on many magic book sites but it looks as though Vol 2 is now out of print and unobtainable. I tracked one site in the US which appeared to have stock but they've just advised that they only have Vol 1 these days.

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Thanks mandrake, could you have not left me ignorant of this for just a few more weeks. Volume 2 was on next months buy list.

Sorry about that, I've been searching around for a week or so and came up with the same 'Vol 1 only' reply every time.When I saw the US site offering both volumes I thought I'd found the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow! Then the e-mail arrived earlier this evening - zero stock. I won't repeat my exact words but no doubt you can imagine them!

I'll keep searching and I only hope soemone manages to get permission etc to do a reprint of Vol 2 at some point - it would sell very well indeed. Earlier to day I received a copy of 'Come a little closer' and it looks promising - certainly worth having in the magic book collection.

Mandrake wrote:I'll keep searching and I only hope soemone manages to get permission etc to do a reprint of Vol 2 at some point - it would sell very well indeed. Earlier to day I received a copy of 'Come a little closer' and it looks promising - certainly worth having in the magic book collection.

Can you do a review of Come a little closer? And if you come across any vol. 2s can you give me a shout. Likewise if I see any I'll pass the info your way.

OK, I'll be reading through Come a little closer tomorrow (quiet day at work,all being well) and I can certainly try to give an initial impression - I'm very happy with the book but I guess the price may be a little high for some budgets.

Mandrake wrote:OK, I'll be reading through Come a little closer tomorrow (quiet day at work,all being well) and I can certainly try to give an initial impression - I'm very happy with the book but I guess the price may be a little high for some budgets.

Thanks in advance.

'Tis done, see http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic9458.php