The Complete Hidden Gems by Mark Elsdon
You know that feeling. You crack open an old magic book and stumble onto something incredible. A routine so good, so fully formed, so obviously powerful that your first thought is: how has nobody been doing this?
Magic is full of those moments. Brilliant effects buried in the corner of a forgotten book, a dusty lecture note, or a magazine that went out of print before most performers were born. Mark Elsdon has spent years finding them. The Complete Hidden Gems is the result of all that work, gathered together for the first time in a single volume, and it is one of the most useful and genuinely exciting magic books released in years.
This is not a book of Mark's own creations. It is something rarer and more valuable: a curated treasure map of the most powerful forgotten material in the entire magic literature, covering cards, coins, close-up, mentalism, stage, and cabaret. More than 1,000 referenced effects, each one selected because it hits hard with real audiences and almost nobody is doing it. Every entry comes with context, origin, and the specific reason why the material deserves a place in a working repertoire, so you are never just handed a reference and left to figure out the rest yourself.
This is the book that makes your existing library worth twice what you paid for it. It sends you back to books you already own with fresh eyes and a very specific target. And for those who want something nobody at the table will have seen before, it is the most direct route to genuine signature material that the magic community has ever been given access to.
There is even a dedicated section of Hidden Gems powerful enough to fool Penn and Teller. For the performers who want that kind of benchmark, it is all there.
R Paul Wilson said he would prefer not to recommend it, purely for selfish reasons, because it is a treasure chest that will send you racing to fill in gaps in your library. James Went called it a must-buy. Jonathan Friedman called it a collection of high-impact magic, cherry-picked to give you only the best of the best. Andi Gladwin said Mark is his regular source for ideas that make him look harder and closer at the material already in front of him.
When that many sharp, widely read performers agree this enthusiastically, it tends to mean something.
What's inside:
1,000+ referenced effects spanning cards, coins, mentalism, stage, cabaret, and close-up
The best forgotten secrets hidden in plain sight across the magic literature
Context, origin, and performance reasoning for every effect
A special section of material powerful enough to fool Penn and Teller
A guide to rediscovering and maximizing your own existing magic library
Difficulty: Beginner to Professional
Best for: Close-up, mentalism, stage, cabaret, and any performer who wants genuinely unique material
