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[Barnum] A.H. Saxon, ed,
SELECTED LETTERS OF P.T. BARNUM.
NF/NF. Jacket in mylar. Original "$19.95" price intact on dj.
(NY: Columbia University Press, 1983).
Photographs, illustrations, appendices, bibliographic essay, index, 351 pages.
~~~ "I believe hugely in advertising and blowing my own trumpet, beating the gongs, drums, &c. to attract attention to a show," Phineas Taylor Barnum wrote to a publisher in 1860. "I don't believe in 'duping the public,' but I believe in first attracting & then pleasing them."
The name P.T. Barnum is virtually synonymous with the fine art of self-advertisement and the apocryphal statement, "There's a sucker born every minute." Nearly a century after his death, Barnum remains one of America's most celebrated figures.
In the Selected Letters of P.T. Barnum, A.H. Saxon brings together more than 300 letters written by the self-styled "Prince of Humbugs." Here we see him, opinionated and exuberant, with only the rarest flashes of introspection and self-doubt, haggling with business partners, blustering over politics, and attempting to get such friends as Mark Twain to endorse his latest schemes.
Always the king of showmen, Barnum considered himself a museum man first and was forever on the lookout for "curiosities," whether animate or inanimate. His early career included such outright frauds as Joice Heth, the "161-year-old nurse of George Washington," and the Fejee Mermaid-the desiccated head and torso of a monkey sewn to the body of a fish. Although in later years he projected a more solid, respectable image-managing the irreproachable "legitimate" attraction Jenny Lind, becoming a leading light in the temperance crusade, founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus-much of his daily existence continued to be unabashedly devoted to manipulating public opinion so as to acquire for himselfand his enterprises what he delightedly termed "notoriety."
His famous autobiography, The Life of P.T. Barnum, which he regularly augmented during the last quarter century of his life, was itself a masterpiece of self-promotion. "Will you have the kindness to announce that I am writing my life & that fifty-seven different publishers have applied for the chance of publishing it," he wrote to a newspaper editor, adding, "Such is the fact-and if it wasn't, why still it ain't a bad announcement."
The Selected Letters of P.T. Barnum captures the magic of this consummate showman's life, truly his own "greatest show on earth."
~~~ OUT OF PRINT.
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[Barnum] A.H. Saxon, ed,
LIFE OF HON. PHINEAUS T. BARNUM:
Unique Story, Marvellous Career, Comprising His Boyhood, Youth, Herculean Struggles,
Brilliant Enterprises, His Reception By Kings, Queens, Etc. .
VG. Small tears & chips to spine head & heel. Edgewear at bottom corners.
(Edgewood Publishing Company, 1891). First Edition.
621 pages.
~~~ OUT OF PRINT.
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Fox, Charles Philip and Tom Parkinson,
THE CIRCUS IN AMERICA.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket.
(Hennessey & Ingalls).
289 pages.
~~~
The Circus in America is an arresting visual document of this most populist
form of entertainment. Based on the unsurpassed collection housed at the Circus
World Museum, in Baraboo, Wisconsin, the books contains 96 full-color
reproductions of the original circus posters that announced the imminent arrival
of the Big Show. The Adam Forepaugh, Sells-Floto, Al G. Barnes, Ringling Brothers
and Barnum & Bailey circuses are all represented by the eye-popping color
lithograph posters that tried to cram all the excitement of the circus into a
single piece of paper, and often succeeded. This book also contains almost 200
black and white archival photographs of the great circus acts and performers,
as well as behind-the-scenes shots of the circus at work, erecting the tents,
caring for the animals, and moving across the country on their special circus
trains. Several of the gorgeous circus parade wagons preserved at Baraboo are
also shown in the book in full color. The text of The Circus in America is
informative and accessible.
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Hartzman, Marc,
AMERICAN SIDESHOW.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket.
(Tarcher/Penguin).
289 pages.
~~~ A fascinating look into the history of the American sideshow and its performers. Learn what's real, what's fake, and what's just downright bizarre.
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Knaebel, Nathaniel (ed),
STEP RIGHT UP.
NEW copy, trade PAPERBACK.
(Carroll & Graf Publishers).
326 pages.
~~~
Everyone loves a carnival, whether it's the Big Top at its finest hour or a
traveling midway kicking up dust just a few days after settling in. These roving
extravaganzas are as amusing as they are mysterious and as innocent as they are
sordid. Step Right Up collects the finest literature and the most
absorbing testimonials and first-person accounts about carnivals, sideshows, and
the circus, capturing all of the spectacle and sensation of this unusual and
treasured tradition. A colorful assortment of characters populate the fairgrounds
and circus tents of this unique collection from circus legends like P.T. Barnum
and Otis Jordan the Frog Prince to a motley crew of ride monkeys and rubes. Step
Right Up takes the reader everywhere from a small village in Romania to the
streets of Coney Island and offers everything from Fred Rosen's account of the
scandalous demise of Grady "Lobster Boy" Stiles Jr. to imaginative fiction like
Michael Chabon's macabre take on the origin of clowns.
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Register, Woody,
THE KID OF CONEY ISLAND.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket.
(Oxford).
400 pages.
~~~
A generation before Walt Disney, Fred Thompson was the "boy-wonder" of American
popular amusements. At the turn of the 20th century, Thompson's entrepreneurial
drive made him into an entertainment mogul who helped to define the popular
culture of his day. In this lively biography, cultural historian Woody Register
tells the remarkable story of Thompson and examines the transformation of
commerce and entertainment as American society moved into an era of mass
marketing and large-scale corporate enterprise. Register shows how Thompson got
his start as a creator and promoter of carnival shows and world's fairs, and he
traces Thompson's career as one of the principal developers and promoters of
Coney Island and other amusement parks.
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Jahn, Mike,
MURDER ON CONEY ISLAND.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket.
(St Martins Minotaur).
262 pages.
~~~
It is now almost a year after the World Trade Center attacks, and New York City
is still struggling with the horrible aftermath. For Captain Bill Donovan, Chief
of Special Investigations for the NYPD, watching helplessly as his beloved city
was torn apart was painful and heartbreaking. Therefore, when the body of
notorious real estate developer James Victor is found in the basement of a
Coney Island candy store, Donovan throws himself into the investigation as a way
to ease the pain. Victor certainly has not been endearing himself to the local
blue-collar Coney Island crowd in the recent months - he is the driving force
behind a multimillion-dollar urban renewal project aimed at tearing down the old
charming buildings and storefronts near the boardwalk in favor of erecting lavish
condos. Soon, Donovan and his friend and associate, Brooklyn's massively muscled
Brian Moskowitz, enter a world where the financial stakes are high and the
emotional stakes are even higher.
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