close-up magic

{{Short description|Magic performed in an intimate setting}}

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Close-up magic (also known as table magic or micromagic) is magic performed in an intimate setting usually no more than 3 meters (10 feet) from one's audience and is usually performed while sitting at a table.Wilson, Mark [1975] (1988). Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic. Courage Books. {{ISBN|0-89471-623-9}}. Card Magic, pp. 17-171

Sleight-of-hand, also known as prestidigitation ("quick fingers") or léger de main (Fr., "lightness of hand"), is the set of techniques used by a magician to secretly manipulate objects.Tarr, Bill. Now You See It, Now You Don't!: Lessons in Sleight of Hand. Vintage. 1976. Coins and playing cards are the most commonly used objects, but any small item can be used such as dice, bottle caps, sugar cubes, sponge balls, pebbles, pens, and cups and balls.Fulves, Karl. Self-Working Table Magic: 97 Foolproof Tricks with Everyday Objects. Dover Publications. 1981. A magician may use more than one kind of object in a single trick.

Close-up magicians may also enhance their performance by combining magic with other elements, such as cardistry. While magic uses misdirection to produce an illusion, these flourishes are more straightforward displays of skill, comparable to juggling.{{cite book |last1=Hugard |first1=Jean |first2=Frederick |last2=Braué |first3=Paul |last3=Fleming |location=Mansfield Centre, CT |year=2015|title=The Royal Road to Card Magic |publisher=Dover Publications, Martino Publishing |orig-year=1999 |isbn=978-1614278603}}

Another form of micromagic is micromentalism, mentalism performed in an intimate session.{{citation needed|date=June 2023|reason=this usage of the term does not appear to be independently attested}} This form of mentalism involves purported examples of telekinesis, extrasensory perception, precognition and telepathy. Most cold reading takes place in such an intimate session, as do most theatrical séances.