Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

Magic

Poster from the Performing Arts Collection.

The McManus-Young Collection contains 2,500 books on the art and history of conjuring, sleight of hand and stage magic, hypnotism, spiritualism, and witchcraft. This is supplemented by other Performing Arts holdings, including Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), the earliest work to contain a section on magic tricks and legerdemain. Related to this is a collection of books on spiritualism that belonged to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. To locate individual McManus-Young titles, go to the UT Library Catalog, click on Call Number on the left, and enter "ZM" in the Other Call Number field. The Harry Houdini Collection contains posters, programs, correspondence, and books on conjuring owned by the magician.