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Do you have a bibliography of Show History materials?

PLEASE NOTE: This list is incomplete and a work in progress. Letters in brackets below represent references that are used on ShowHistory.com to indicate primary source material. Freaks: Cinema of the Bizarre, Werner Adrian, Lorrimer Publishing, 1976.[wa] American Heritage, June 1966, Volume XVII, Number 4, “The Fat Man and His Friends”, pp34-39.[ah] Sideshow, Max Rusid, Amjon Publishers, 1975.[mr] Up In The Old Hotel, Joseph Mitchell, Vintage Books, 1993. (Jane Barnell “Lady Olga”) [jm] Human Curiosities, Colin Clair , Abelard-Schuman, 1968. [cc] True Facts and Pictures: Sideshow Freaks and features, Jay Teel , Petland Press, 1930. [jt] Human Oddities Of The Circus And Sideshow Of Yesterday And Today – Complete List And Descriptive Text, Bernard L. Kobel , (self-published, 1974 [blk] America’s Forgotten Folk Arts, Fred & Mary Fried Pantheon Books, 1978 [fmf] Diploteratology, or, A History of Some of the Most Wonderful Human Beings That Have Ever Lived in Double Form, Besse, H. Delaware: Gazette, 1874. Circus Parade, Jim Tully (William Gropper, Illustrater) The Literary Guild Of America, 1927 Curiosities of Natural History, Francis Buckland. The Batchworth Press, 1948 Carnival Gaffs, Walter Gibson, Gambler’s Book Club, 1976 Carnival, Arthur H. Lewis, Trident Press, 1970 Circus Lingo, Joe McKennon Carnival Publishers of Sarasota, 1980 The County Fair Carnival -Where the Midway Meets the Grange, Chemung County Historical Society, 1992 Curiosities Of Human Nature, S.G. Goodrich, Bradbury & Soden, 1843 Eve and The Apes. Emily Hahn, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1988 Freak Show: Sideshow Banner Art, Carl Hammer and Gordon Bosker Chronicle Books 1996 [chgb] Freak Show Man – The Autobiography of Harry Lewiston, as told to Jerry Holtman, Holloway House Publishing Co. 1968 Freaks! Vol 1 – 5, Chris Fellner Freaks – We Who Are Not As Others, Daniel P. Mannix, Pocket Books, 1976 [dm] Freaks,Geeks, and Strange Girls – Sideshow Banners Of The Great American Midway, R. Johnson, J. Secreto, & T. Varndell eds., Hardy Marks Publications, 1995 Honolulu. 1996. Weird & Wonderful: The Dime Museum in America. New York University Press, 1997. Special Cases: Natural Anomalies and Historical Monsters. Rosamund W. Purcell. Chronicle Books, San Francisco. 1997. Freaks: Myths & Images of the Secret Self. Leslie Fiedler. New York: Anchor Books, 1978. Collectors & Curiosities: Paris and Venice, 1500 – 1800. Krzysztof Pomian. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990. Finders Keepers: Treasures and Oddities of Natrual History, Collectors from Peter the Great to Louis Agassiz. Jay Gould New York: W. W. Norton, 1992. Signs & Portents: Monstrous Births from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment. Dudley Wilson. London: Routledge, 1993. On Monsters & Marvels. Ambroise Pare translated by Janis L. Pallister. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1982. Anomalies & Curiosities of Medicine. George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle. New York: Bell Publishing, 1973. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection. Susan Stewart. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993. Freak Shows. Robert Bogdan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. Grind Show – Weirdness As Entertainment, Fred Olen Ray, American – Independent Press, 1993 Historical Fairground Scenes, Michael E. Ware MoorlandPublishing Co, Inc., 1989 The History Of Noell’s Ark Gorilla Show, Mae Noell, Noell’s Ark Publisher, 1979 Human Oddities, Martin Monestier, 1987, Citadel [mm] Hoaxes, Humbug And Spectacles, Mark Sloan [ms] Villard Books, 1990. Humbug – The Art Of P.T. Barnum, Neil Harris, Little, Brown and Company, 1973 Indian Circus, Mary Ellen Mark, Chronicle Books, 1993 Inside Teradome: An Illustrated History Of Freak Film, Jack Hunter , Creation Books, 1995 The Life Of Buffalo Bill, William F. Cody Senate Western Classics, 1994 The Little People – An Illustrated Look At Some Of The World’s Most Engaging Men and Women, Hy Roth and Robert Cromie, Everest House, 1980 The Loves And Lives Of The Hilton Sisters, Daisy and Violet Hilton, Wonder Book Co. – No Date The Making Of The Wizard Of Oz, Aljean Harmetz, Pavillion Books Limited, 1989 Modern Primitives, V.Vale and Andrea Juno eds. RE/ Search Publications, 1989 Monster Midway – An Uninhibited Look At The Glittering World Of The Carny, William Lindsay Gresham, Rhinehart & Company, Inc., 1953 The Monster Show,: A Cultural History Of Horror, David J. Skol, W. W. Norton and Company, 1993 My Very Unusual Friends, Ward Hall, 1991 The Sideshow Planet, D.B. Doghouse [dbd] Terraplane Press, 1989.. Nightmare Alley, William Lindsay Gresham, Carrol & Graf Publishers, Inc. 1974 Pandemonium, – “Special Freaks, Magicians, and Movie Stars issue,” Living Color Productions, 1989 Side Show: My Life with Geeks, Freaks & Vagabonds in the Carny Trade, Howard Bone, Sun Dog Press, 2001. Step Right Up!, Dan Mannix, Harper & Brothers, 1951 Sir Benjamin Stone’s Pictures: Records Of National Life And History, Vol 1, Festivals, Ceremonies And Customs, Sir Benjamin Stone, Cassel and Co. Lmtd ,No date. Struggles And Triumphs, P.T. Barnum Penguin Classics, 1981 Very Special People – The Struggles, Loves And Triumphs Of Human Oddities, Frederic Drimmer Amjon Publishing, 1973 [fd] James Taylor’s Shocked And Amazed! On and Off The Midway, Volume 1 – 4 James Taylor, Dolphin – Moon Press and Atomic Books Of Baltimore, Maryland Memoirs Of A Sword Swallower, First Photo – Illustrated Edition, Daniel P. Mannix, V/Search Publications, 1950 – 1951 The Two, The Story Of The Original Siamese Twins, A Biography, Irving Wallace and Amy Wallace, Simon and Shuster, 1978 Freakery: Cultural specticals of the extraordinary body. Edited by Rosemarie Garland Thomson. New York University Press 1996. The Biggest, The Smallest, The Longest, the Shortest, A chronicle of the American Circus fron its heartland. Dean Jenson, Wisconsin House Book Publishers, 1975 Step Right Up! The Adventure Of Circus In America, LaVahn G. Hoh & William H. Rough, Betterway Publications, Inc.1990 —- Note: Not a mistake! ?@ Bogdan, Robert, Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit, Chicago, 1988. ?@ Fiedler, Leslie, Freaks, Myths and Images of the Secret Self, New York, 1978. Friedman, J.B., The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought, Cambridge, Mass., 1981. Kappler, Claude, Monstres, demons et merveilles a la fin du Moyen Age, Paris, 1980. ?@ Niccoli, Ottavia, Profetti e popolo nell’Italia del Renascimento, Roma/ Bari, 1987. Wilson, Dudley, Signs and Portents: Monstrous Births from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, London, 1993. Paré, Ambroise, 1510?-1590 Unif title Des monstres et prodiges. English Title On monsters and marvels / Ambroise Paré ; translated with an introduction and notes by Janis L. Pallister Imprint Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1982 Gonzalez-Crussi, F Title Notes of an anatomist / F. Gonzalez-Crussi Edition 1st ed Imprint San Diego : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, c1985 Fiedler, Leslie A Title Freaks : myths and images of the secret self / Leslie Fiedler Imprint New York : Simon and Schuster, c1978 Howell, Michael Title The true history of the Elephant Man / Michael Howell and Peter Ford Edition Rev. and ill. ed Imprint London ; New York : Allison & Busby ; New York, NY : Distributed in the USA by Schocken Books, 1983 100 10 FICTION: “The Petrified Man,” in A Curtain of Green and Other Stories. Eudora Welty. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1979. “Those Extraordinary Twins,” in Pudd’nhead Wilson and Other Tales. Mark Twain. Many editions. Oxford University Press. Nightmare Alley, Gresham, William Lindsay,|d1909- 245 10 260 0 New York,|aToronto,|bRinehart and company, inc.|c[1946] 300 6 p.l., 3-275 p.|c22 cm