Bidspirit auction | Barnum, P. T. Struggles and

Barnum, P. T. Struggles and Triumphs: Or, Forty Years' Recollections. Warren, Johnson & Co., 1873. - This octavo volume is the Author's Edition of P. T. Barnum's autobiography, titled Struggles and Triumphs: Or, Forty Years' Recollections. Published in Buffalo, N. Y., by Warren, Johnson & Co. in 1873, the text is identified on the title page as revised, enlarged, newly illustrated, and written up to February 1873. The book is bound in the publisher's green cloth with blind-stamped decorative borders and a central floral motif on the front and rear boards. The spine features gilt-stamped lettering and a circular gilt portrait of Barnum. The work contains numerous wood-engraved illustrations, including titled plates such as Marriage in Miniature, The Long and Short of It, and Trouble in a Turkish Harem. The copyright page indicates the work was entered according to Act of Congress in 1871. A faint pencil ownership signature reading Mungo Wilson is present on an early flyleaf. Fair. The original cloth binding shows heavy wear, with significant fraying and small losses of material at the spine head and foot. The corners are bumped and rubbed, and there is general rubbing along the board edges and joints. The interior exhibits heavy foxing and tanning throughout, most notably on the endpapers and title page. The binding is somewhat shaken.