Elliott, Dr. James William. Autograph Card Manipulation Challenge Letter, Signed “Dr. Elliott.” Boston, 1900s. On one 4to sheet of Elliott’s pictorial letterhead, recto blank, the verso bearing a handwritten draft of Elliott’s famous challenge to card manipulators, beginning with an account of his youthful inclination to “master all the misdirecting sleights of the manipulating craft,” and further delineating his lifelong preoccupation with card sleights. He concludes with a boisterous challenge to the magicians of the world, offering to redeem “with immediate cash” “any person on earth” who outmatches him in manipulating “a deck of 52 cards (regular size).” Boldly signed, “Dr. Elliott/The Challenge Champion Card Manipulator of the World.”