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Well, having declared I'd not write anything here in my intro, I went off looking for a review of this little book I like and didn't see one. So, in the spirit of spreading the word, here's my first real post, a review of...

Counts, Cuts, Moves and Subtlety, A Book of Basic Card Techniques by Jerry Mentzer (1977)

The Effect

Not an effect, as such, more a tutorial on certain "small packet" card moves.

Cost

Mine says £4.25 inside but it's 15 years old -- currently available for £7.99 from www.magicbox.uk.com. That's around US$15, I think.

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

Dunno -- I'd rate it a 3 since most of it is sleights of various sorts but none have been overly difficult so far. It does say basic techniques, after all.

Review

When I was learning my first few "proper" card tricks, RRTCM was fine and dandy and my brother gave me this as a present but it seemed uninteresting then -- no tricks!. Well, I left magic for many years then came back recently and was watching a DVD and heard "You simply do an Elmesly count..." which wasn't in RRTCM. Luckily, it's in here along with other great techniques like double undercuts, Jordan counts, the Asciano spread and a whole heap of others which will all prove useful in time, I'm sure. All are carefully explained with two or three b/w photos per move and occasional notes on tricks they might fit into. Layout is clear and easy to follow and the moves can be picked up in a relatively short time. The only gripe is the perfect binding which means you can't lay the book flat in front of you without almost breaking it.

Overall

This is an older book but simply splendid. I'm only a rank amateur (and believe me, I'm pretty rank) but I managed to pull off an Elmesly count after ten minutes' careful study and now have it pretty much down. And that impresses me. I'm pretty sure even experienced card workers will find this little book useful. Overall, I'm glad this got kept in all the various book purges I made every time I moved house, it's a gem for card workers above the raw beginner stage and packs an awful lot of powerful stuff into its 72 pages.

Score -- from my lowly viewpoint it's got to be 8/10. I'd give it a 9 if it was comb or spiral bound. Your mileage may vary according to experience.

This is a great little book with many, many excellent moves. You may have noticed the Olram Subtlety is really Marlo spelled backwards. If you can master just a few of these moves, you will be able to do some awesome effects. Interesting that the EC is taught here the way Vernon did for Twisting the Aces and many don't take the time to learn it from the mechanics grip. Card College 2 teaches it from the MG and is clear how it is performed. The book in the US cost about $10.00 and is a great value for the amount of material it contains. Thanks for the good review.
Regards
Al

Fantastic!

I've been looking for a cheap little booklet which detailed various moves not included in any of my other books... a written description of the Elmsley count and Ascanio spread will go down nicely.

Might have to purchase this, thanks for the review

How many cards counts etc. does the book have, roughly?

Table of Contents:
http://magicref.tripod.com/booksjr/mentzercounts.htm

Excellent review - many thanks for taking the effort!

On the basis of this, I've just bagged a copy of this from eBay, for a whopping £2.70; looks like I got myself a bargain!

A truly excellent book. Handy for any of us to have as a quick reference guide. I got mine in International in London, and I often refer back to it. At this price it is a bargain. I agree about not being able to open it flat though, kinda hard to practice counts and moves etc with the book in one hand!

Remains one of my best purchases in magic ever, and that was probably 15+ years ago...

Just as a side note, the elmsley count taught here is the count used by Vernon for Twisting the Aces. If you would like to learn the count from the mechanics grip, go to Vol. 2 of Card College. I think its a more natural handling but, if you can do it Vernons way, you still have a strong weapon in magic. Don't let anyone tell you they have a better way when they just have another way.
Cheers
Al

i bought this the other day for i fiver and was going to review it but u beat me to it.....id agree though i superb little booklet

This is the best book on what you need for packet tricks and more. It's sister publication is 'Packet tricks' by Jerry Mentzer, which is about £7. It contains tricks like Peter Kanes Jazz Aces and utilises some of the sleights and counts tuaght in the cuts book. Definately reccommended if you like the Cuts book.

TrevK