VERY RARE - SCARCE EARLY EDITION
VERY RARE -
SCARCE FIRST EDITION THUS - FIRST ISSUE
RARE LIMITED EDITION of an IMPORTANT & UNCOMMON
EDITION.
AMERICAN
SHOWMAN, BUSINESSMAN, AND POLITICIAN
REMEMBERED FOR PROMOTING CELEBRATED HOAXES
AND FOUNDING THE *BARNUM & BAILEY CIRCUS.
STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS
or
FORTY YEARS' RECOLLECTIONS
of
P. T. BARNUM
Written By Himself
LONDON: Sampson, Low Son & Marston. 1870 [published date: 1870]. Rare
First edition thus.
8vo. 7.5" x 5.25" inches (LxB). Pp.
viii, 392, [16, ads] pages, complete with 33 full page single sided
illustrations. Fine original contemporary publisher's elaborately color
decorated pictorial binding, titles and pictorial designs & lettering on
the front board & on the spine. Back cover with publisher's ads.
P.T. Barnum, (born July 5, 1810, Bethel, Connecticut, U.S. died April 7,
1891, Bridgeport, Connecticut), American showman who employed
sensational forms of presentation and publicity to popularize such
amusements as the public museum, the musical concert, and the three-ring
circus. In partnership with James A. Bailey, he made the American circus
a popular and gigantic spectacle, the so-called Greatest Show on Earth.
Playing upon the publics interest in the unusual and bizarre (part of
the human curiosities movement of the 19th century that saw the
exploitation of African slave Sarah Baartman and the rise of carnival
freak shows), Barnum scoured the world for curiosities, living or dead,
genuine or fake. By means of outrageous stunts, repetitive advertising,
and exaggerated publicity, Barnum excited international attention and
made his showcase of wonders a landmark.
Casting about for a legitimate undertaking, Barnum outmaneuvered
wealthier bidders to acquire John Scudders American Museum, in New York
City, a five-story marble structure filled with stuffed animals, waxwork
figures, and similar conventional exhibits. The new owner rapidly
transformed the museum into a carnival of human curiosities, dramatic
theatricals, beauty contests, and other sensational attractions. Between
1842, when he took over the American Museum, and 1868, when he gave it
up after fires twice had all but destroyed it, Barnums gaudy
showmanship enticed 82 million visitors among them Henry and William
James, Charles Dickens, and Edward VII, then prince of Wales into his
halls and to his other enterprises.
Mr. Barnum assures us in this volume he has given the authentic history
of all his varied adventures, "with life before and behind the scenes,-
the traveling circus of earlier times and its adventures,- incidents of
travel,- interviews with crowned heads, and nobility if Europe,-sketches
and anecdotes of American life, &.-duly recording his successful
campaigns with General Tom Thumb, Jenny Lind, agricultural experiments,
experience in Banking," &, withholding no rule of life, or secret of
success, from his readers." (Introduction).
Extremely rare. Absolutely spectacular.
A classic work, complete as
issued.
A
SCARCE BOOK.
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Please take some time to view the images as
they form an important part of the description and will give you a good
idea of condition. Questions and offers most welcome.
CONDITION
REPORT: A
rare book in period publisher's original color decorated pictorial
binding, some wear/tear, scuffing chipping to covers, spine, ends & corners, pages
with sporadic age
toning soiling, are clean & bright (See Scans below), the binding
is tight & intact. The paper is smooth & supple
to the touch.
Note: Spine
ends worn, covers a bit soiled, bump mark to lower front corner
Note:
A Scarce
book
(See Scans
below).
Note: See
individual close ups given in pictures.
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Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 - 1891) was
one of America's showmen, businessman, and politician, remembered
for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey
Circus. He is often remembered by the apothegm "There's a sucker
born every minute," which although attributed to him is not his
coinage. This autobiography was preceded by two other self-promoting
books, Life of P. T. Barnum (1854) and The Humbugs of the World
(1865) and followed by The Art of Money-Getting (1880). Among his
achievements was the promotion of the opera singer Jenny Lind, whose
success in America was largely due to Barnum. He changed public
attitudes towards the theatre, often regarded as a den of iniquity.
The dissociation of sensibilities between the new American republic
and its former colonial proprietor is perhaps exemplified in Mark
Twain's remark that he loved Barnum's 1854 autobiography; while the
British Examiner thought it "trashy," "offensive," and
"inspired.nothing but sensations of disgust and sincere pity for the
wretched man who compiled it.".
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