Identifiable Intangible Assets (Details) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Impairment on intangible assets	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0
Investment Advisory Contract [Member] \| Gabelli Enterprise Mergers and Acquisitions Fund [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Identifiable intangible asset	1,900,000	1,900,000
Investment Advisory Contract [Member] \| Bancroft Fund Ltd. and the Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund Ltd. [Member]
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Identifiable intangible asset	$ 1,600,000	$ 1,600,000

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount after amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16323-109275

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- Definition

The amount of impairment loss recognized in the period resulting from the write-down of the carrying amount of a finite-lived intangible asset to fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109223946&loc=d3e3602-108585

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66006027&loc=d3e16373-109275

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