Based on the TV show "American Pickers" (hey Brits, it's about guys who make amazing deals buying antiques worth lots of money... has nothing to do with noses). Anyway, I wat at the Columbus flea market yesterday, bought a neat blacksmithing hammer, some 8 track tapes and man did I make a find!

It's a paperback publication titled "When the Circus came to town" by Dean M Aungst (SBN 911410-23-6). Published in 1969 it chronicles travelling circuses in America from the late 1800's to the 30's and 40's. This is an amazing piece of history with lots of excellent B&W photos of pretty much all aspects of the early American travelling circuses. According to the book, Philadelphia was home to the first true Amercian Circus with audience attendees such as George and Martha Washington! The majority of photos and articles in the book are from the Pennsylvania area; Lebanon, Wilkes-Barre, Allentown, Phila., Reading, etc. Shots of cook tents, big top erection, elephants hard at work, cowboys and indians, and ONE simple page about the sideshow. Pics of elephants trunding down "Main Street" dirt roads with dust kicking up, folks with hats and umbrellas standing on rooftops to get a view, it's amazing how many things can be picked in one simple shot.

I will try to get the entire book transferred to an electronic medium and donate a copy to the proper people for better historical preservation.

Here's a couple pages scanned so far:

Cover shot

Sideshow Article

NOTE: These are REALLY big images (I left them at original size). You can use your web browser to view them and scroll around, or download them and print them out for better viewing.

So mister big sideshow nose picker .... How much did you pay and how much is it worth? Isn't that what all those types of show are about?

Paid $1.00, seems to be worth between $5 to $25. $1 was the asking price, now the eight tracks were .50 a piece. I've seen those at London thrift stores for 27 pounds!