The Hungarian-Italian daredevil has performed stunts around the world, escaping from inside blocks of ice, quick-setting concrete or blazing cars. Like his hero, Merlini has made an art of getting himself first into and then out of trouble. “My friends tell me I spend too much on these artifacts but what is of real value today? Real estate? A diamond ring or a nice car? I believe it is what makes you happy,” he said. When Merlini first heard about the bible’s reemergence on a Houdini historian’s Web site, “Wild about Harry,” he knew he had to have “this special collector’s item.” Little attention was paid to the book, until a friend’s recent interest alerted O’Grady to its potential value. The bible had been gifted by Houdini’s brother to a nurse in the 1960s who then gave it to her Irish immigrant neighbor, Tara’s mother. “I feel like it has come home,” O’Grady, whose family had owned the book since the late 1970s, told AFP after the artifact’s handover. The book, which he signed as a 19-year-old, was delivered to the museum by its previous owner, New York-based jazz-blues singer Tara O’Grady. Everyone has a secret desire sometimes to get out of a certain situation, to be somewhere else, in a different pair of shoes, that is his enduring universal appeal,” he told AFP.Īt the start of the month, the museum pulled a new rarity out of its hat - a Bible once owned by Houdini. “I had an urge to pay tribute to Houdini,” said museum owner and fellow escapologist David Merlini who has dedicated his life to collecting the items on display.
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