Harry Houdini, who made his name escaping from locked trunks and straitjackets, was an obsessive collector of books. He amassed a library devoted to magic, theater, and the performers who came before him. Among its treasures is a first edition of Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), which exposed the tricks behind supposed acts of sorcery. He also owned a handwritten travel diary belonging to the 18th-century actor David Garrick. The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas acquired Houdini’s collection in 1958. To mark the centenary of his death, in 1926, the center has brought rarities out of storage for an exhibition in Austin, curated by Eric Colleary. —Elena Clavarino