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Step Right Up: Circus and Sideshow Memorabilia

Thu, Sep 3, 2026 11:00AM EDT
  2026-09-03 11:00:00 2026-09-03 11:00:00 America/New_York Potter & Potter Auctions Potter & Potter Auctions : Step Right Up: Circus and Sideshow Memorabilia https://auction.potterauctions.com/auctions/potter-potter/step-right-up-circus-and-sideshow-memorabilia-23625
Featuring the collection of lifelong circus collector John Diesso, this auction includes heralds, couriers, and posters advertising the "greatest shows" of yesteryear. Photographs, route books, scrapbooks, and circus costumes will be also be offered, spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A wide array of early European circus posters will be sold, along with a large library of circus books of several thousand volumes.
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Lot 367

[BARNUM, P. T.]. The "District Railway" Authorised Guide to Olympia, and Authenticated Life of P. T. Barnum.

Estimate: $200 - $300
Starting Bid
$100

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[BARNUM, P. T.]. The "District Railway" Authorised Guide to Olympia, and Authenticated Life of P. T. Barnum. London: Alfred Boot and Son, Publishers, (1889). Original wrappers, stapled, with engraved portrait of Barnum. 8vo. 62, [2]pp.

Folding plan of Olympia, and folding map of London. Numerous illustrations, timetables, advertisements. 

A scarce guidebook from Barnum's fourteen-week run in London in November, 1889. The show was a major success, drawing an estimated 30,000 visitors a day.

 

Condition

Date inked on lower cover; occasional light spotting, few short tears. 

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