© 1997 Mike Powers Magic

Born March 2, 1929, Alex Elmsley, a British magician and computer programmer, is most widely know to magicians for inventing the Ghost Count or Elmsley Count. Alex himself is a quaint old English gentleman with a voice slightly reminiscent of Boris Karloff. He walks you through performance and patter with a style that makes you feel comfortable and at ease, even though there is some serious magic happening beneath the scenes. Elmsley is one of few magicians to examine the properties of shuffling, which mathematicians such as Martin Gardner and Persi Diaconis have investigated. He has long been recognized as one of the most brilliant innovators of card and close-up magic. He has invented several sleights and hundreds of tricks.

He wrote three sets of lecture notes in the past. His first was "Low Cunning" (1957). He then revamped these notes with changes to content for the USA to "Low Cunning" (1959). His final set of notes was "Cardwork" (1975).

He also has two books "Collected Works of Alex Elmsley". His lecture notes are included in these books. In the contents over 200 original tricks are presented plus a never before printed essay on presentation, psychology, and misdirection. Some of the tricks include "Card To Pocket", mind reading effects, tricks with coins, and such classic tricks as between Your Palms "Puncture" and "Point of Departure" which has been a figure of mystery for decades. Between these covers a legend of magic comes to life. More..., vol.1, vol.2

His video series "The Magic of Alex Elmsley: The Tahoe Sessions" features four videos of Alex and his magic. His legendary Torn And Restored Newspaper and Cups And Balls routines are here. There are also some card manipulations for vanishes, etc as well for the card players. More...

One of his tricks in his Dazzle Act or the Cardworks act, "Fate Datebook" was improved by Paul Green to become a self-working trick book to be performed by any magician. More...

Alex is still active in magic but not publishing. He did a few lectures last year at conventions and clubs. He meets weekly with Jack Avis & John Derris.

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• Peter Duffie

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