Songster: P.T. Barnum's Great Clown Songster

Songster entitled P.T. Barnum's Great Clown Songster. The cover is red, and features a portrait of P.T. Barnum on the cover. At each corner of the portrait are globes labeled showing a continent. North and South America are in the upper left corner, Europe is in the upper right. Asia is in the lower left corner, and Africa is in the lower right. The title page lists several of the songs included. On the back is a portrait of Cool Burgess, along with decorative text and a repetition of the title of the book. The songs included in the songster are: “The Big Aquarium”; “Go to Barnum's Show”; “The Circus Tent”; “Dorkins' Night” ;“Never Take the Horseshoe from the Door”; “A Flower from my Angel Mother's Grave”; “The Skids are Out To-Day”; “Two Orphans”; “The Old Wooden Rocker” “The Pitcher of Beer”; “The Emblems of Ireland”; ““The Little Widow Dunn”; “The Little Green Leaf in Our Bible”; “Grandmother's Chair”; “Hark! Baby! Hark!”; “My Daughter Julia”; “My Love She is a Fairy Queen”; “The Happy Hottentots”; “Nancy Lee”; “Clown of the Pantomime” ;“The Hen Convention,” and “The Bill-Posters Dream”. Songsters were booklets of popular song lyrics meant to be carried around, usually in the pocket, and were published as sheet music was. The booklets share a name with a traveling musician called a songster, an occupation usually held by African Americans traveling and playing music during the Reconstruction era (after the Civil War). These artists had a great influence on the eventual development of the blues. 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’ show and 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. It came to an end in May 2017 when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus ceased performances after 146 years.