Book: P.T. Barnum's Circus text and illustrations arranged for little people (owned by the Bridgeport History Center)

Book entitled "P.T. Barnum's Circus text and illustrations arranged for little people" by P.T. Barnum and Sarah J. Burke. The hardcover copy has full color illustrations, including double-page ones, and the non-color pages have a green background with black and white drawings. Other editions of this book combine several publications into one text called P. T. Barnum's Circus Museum and Menagerie, a copy of which is held by the Barnum Museum and available in this collection. This volume of the book features a day at the circus as experienced by young children. Barnum's liberal inclusion of color illustrations undoubtedly delighted his young readers and their parents, but also would have been expensive to produce because of the extensive use of color lithography. Barnum is best known for his involvement with the circus that bore his name, but his circus ventures came about when he was in his 60s. The first show was called P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus.  Railroads propelled the circus to success, making it easier to reach a number of locations, and the intake was significant.  Barnum then opened the New York Hippodrome with similar acts.  In the 1880s, he encountered competition from other circuses.  A merger between Barnum's show the Great London Show of Cooper, Bailey, and Hutchinson formed the Barnum and London Circus.  Negotiations in 1887 formed the Barnum and Bailey circus.  The name remained until 1919 when it became the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus.