Through the Back Door of the Circus
Springfield, MA: McLoughlin Bros. Inc., 1938. First Edition, published six years prior to the infamous Hartford Circus Fire of 1944. Inserted as ffep is a picture of the author with Alex Caldwell, INSCRIBED “To my dear friend Alex Caldwell, in appreciation of many pleasant moments together, George Beal, 1953.” Beal’s own copy, with his address label (Newburyport, MA) affixed to lower back inside board. 308 pp., illustrated with photographs (some of which include “Betty Broadbent, Tattooed Lady, Showing Her Remarkable Picture Gallery,” “Ella Harris, All-Around Circus Performer, and Her Trick Elephant,” “The Famous Flying Codanas: Alfredo, Vera and Lalo,” “Billy De Baugh and Joe Lewis, World-Famous Clowns,” and “The Famous Midget Troupe, The Doll Family, Writing a Letter Home”). VG (hinge cracking, rubbing, edgewear and spine fading) publisher’s blue cloth with gilt lettering and design, lacking the dustjacket. Beal was a circus authority and writer and photographer, lecturer, and amateur filmmaker, and he often traveled with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Combined Circus. Scarce signed. Item #245
Price: $275.00