Struggles and Triumphs , Recollections : P.T. Barnum 1872 [ Warren Johnson Courier Co ]

Description

April 1872 update of the exaggerated autobiography of P.T. Barnum , first edition to be printed by Warren and Johnson of Buffalo, New York, the future Courier Co which printed all Barnum circus materials.

 

Barnum, P.T. Struggles and Triumphs or Forty Years of Recollections of PT Barnum. Buffalo , NY : Warren, Johnson Co. 1872.

An early edition of the frequently exaggerated but marvelously illustrated autobiography of circus and humbug pioneer P.T. Barnum. Includes coverage of the opening and destruction of the American Museum as well as anecdotes like the purported use of elephants to plow a field.

Barnum’s second and continually revised memoir Struggles and Triumphs replaced The Life of P.T. Barnum (1855), originally sold as a souvenir at his Manhattan-based American Museum. First published in Hartford, CT in 1869, not far from Barnum’s home base in Bridgeport, this second printing from 1872 marks the first edition to be printed by Warren and Johnson Co of Buffalo New York, publishers of the Buffalo Courier and later known as Courier Co (the relationship between the two companies proved strong with Courier Co printing all Barnum circus materials by 1887).

A considerable rewrite from his first 1855 memoir, Struggles and Triumphs recasts Barnum as a Yankee adventurer more than a huckster. Written as much to sell as shape his public image, Barnum would release updated drafts periodically for the rest of his life and kept copies of the book on hand in an office safe.

No copies of this edition listed in OCLC as of December 2021.

 

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