(CIRCUS.) Collection of sheet music and scrapbooks compiled by P.T. Barnum's daughter. 7...

(CIRCUS.) Collection of sheet music and scrapbooks compiled by P.T. Barnum's daughter. 7 volumes of sheet music and 2 scrapbooks. Folio, contemporary calf and boards, morocco ownership labels on front covers, lacking backstrips, boards detached and worn; internally clean. Vp, 1874-75

Pauline Taylor Barnum (1846-1877) was the youngest and favorite child of P.T. Barnum. Pauline and her husband, Nathan Seeley, had three children before she died of complications from measles. Barnum had no sons, and by bequest, he persuaded Pauline's son to take his name and thereby carry on the family line. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings about P.T. Barnum and his exploits, clipped from a wide array of New York and Connecticut newspapers. Many of these relate to Barnum's Great Roman Hippodrome, a large oval open-air arena that occupied the later site of Madison Square Garden. Built in 1874, the Hippodrome hosted circuses and other exhibitions. Hundreds of pieces of sheet music include a copy of "Presentation Polka, Respectfully Dedicated to Mr. & Mrs. Tom Thumb," with an inscription reading "With compliments of Gen. Tom Thumb." A nice collection of Barnum family material.