America in Manuscript
BARNUM, Phineas Taylor (1810-1891). Autograph album compiled and inscribed by P.T. Barnum, with signatures of Tom Thumb and Edwin Booth.
8vo (222 x 185 mm). Album containing more than 100 autographs dating from 1859-1884, some with a brief inscription and location noted. Some pages are not signed. Steel-engraved views of England, including city and countryside scenes, are interspersed with the blank album pages (contents overall good, toning, occasional spotting, chipping to edges). Contemporary gilt-decorated dark green morocco, upper cover gilt-initialed "P.T.B." (edgeworn).
Provenance: Phineas T. Barnum (initials "P.T.B." in gilt to upper cover).
Front free endpaper SIGNED by American showman, businessman, and circus pioneer, P.T. BARNUM, inscribed to his nephew, Bridgeport, CT, 28 June 1859 (leaf fully separated from album). A subsequent page contains four quotations written and signed by Barnum at bottom, two of which come from Shakespeare, most notably "All the world's a stage..." The third and fourth quotes, which address both personal and professional successes, may be original to Barnum, including "the man makes the business - the occupation or calling does not make the man." The personalized inscriptions to his nephew present a more humanistic side of Barnum, contradicting the many stereotypes associated with the ambitious businessman.
Additional signers include: Charles S. STRATTON, little person who gained fame with P.T. Barnum, signature with inscription, "known as General Tom Thumb," dated 1859. -- Charity HALLETT, Barnum's first wife, signed "Mrs. P.T. Barnum." -- Pauline Taylor BARNUM, Barnum's daughter. -- Edwin BOOTH (1833-1893), actor and brother to Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. Autograph pass for "Booth Theatre, Admit Two, 1880, signed "Edwin Booth." -- Henry DUTTON, former governor of Connecticut. -- Theodore W. GREIG, Civil War veteran, WIA at Antietam, Medal of Honor recipient, signed as "Captain 61st Regt. NYSV." -- Fred H. STOW Jr. of the Adams Express Co. -- Other friends, associates, and personalities of the period.
[With:] BARNUM, Phineas Taylor. Struggles and Triumphs: or Forty Years' Recollections by P.T. Barnum. Buffalo, NY: Warren, Johnson & Co., 1872. 8vo. Original cloth. Later edition.
[With:] The Fairy Wedding Group. CDV of Charles Stratton, or Tom Thumb, his bride Lavinia Warren Stratton, and members of their wedding party. New York: Brady, Anthony, 1863. Facsimile signatures on verso.
This lot is located in Cincinnati.
