I came across and original Little Blue Book 1279 aka Sideshow Tricks Explained (probably published around 1913 or so). See:

http://www.houseofdeception.com/Carnival......phy.html

Does anyone have any information on it? Value? Origin? Whay the date was not published. Information about the author? There seems to be a story here.

Also, someone gave me a bunch of trading cards (Mothers?) which all have sideshow freaks. (They seem to be going on ebay for $15 or so). Any history on those--how they came into being and why? It turns out that some of the freaks have a medical conditions listed as "unknown", but I have been able to identify what the conditions are.

Any help would be appreciated.

Jeremy

The Little Blue Book series pops up a lot here and there. There were a lot of them printed, and I do mean a lot. According to wikipedia the series sold a total over 300 million booklets (there were tons of topic covered by each one). They seem to have been the cliff notes version of the readers digest for the fast moving working man (at least that's my opinion). Here's a link to the wiki history of them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Blue_Books I've seen them floating around and have several from the series myself including the Sideshow Tricks Explained. It's probably worth more to you than anyone else really, I think I payed like $10 for about 10 or 15 different ones at an antique show one time. I picked it up as an addition to my collection for my own personal use (not anything I'll ever really be looking to sell). The material itself within said little blue book seems to have been rehashed through several different early time books on the subject that I've read at least, ie cocaine being used to dull the senses during pincushion, swallowing an asbestos sheath so that you can eat fire and other preposterous claims.

As far as the trading cards not really sure, hopefully the blue book info helps you though.

This book is just one item in the (pardon me for bragging) huge amount of material in my CDRom e-book "On the Midway", the whole bustin'-full package is available at

http://www.goodmagic.com/websales/midway/index.htm

He was an interesting guy. I believe he was one of the folks on the committee that went after Margerie the medium. The commitee was fooled by her (partially amidst whispered allegations of oral sex under the seance table), and Houdini got his ego going, and trapped her, whether or not he actually caught her in a legit exposee.

Asbestos tastes good...lead taste good. It's a cute little pamphlet that goes for a few bucks.

It is a great little book. For me it contains nothing new. I have Ross's CD-Rom collection--which is great too. But, I am one of those guys who likes to collect the actual item itself.

Thanks for the world of info!

Hey historians, straighten me out please...

My e-book contains a Carrington book (also full of really dangerous inaccuracies) titled "Side-Show and Animal Tricks".

Is this the same or different than "Side Show Tricks Explained"?

Ross, it is the same book. As for the trading cards, they were put together by a guy in NJ. I think the company was Shelltone or something. I can't remember who it was that put them out, but it was the father of someone famous. I wish I could recall who. Sorry about that. My mind ain't what it used to be, and it wasn't much to begin with.

I hesitate to say this, since it is inconsistent with Todd's statement...but I think this book is different. However, I will try to look more closely tonight since I have both. But I am packing for a move to Seattle. I have not looked at the one on Ross' CD-Rom in a while, however when I was reading SSTE last night I noted that, in the begining of the book, Carrington refers to animal tricks and says that this topic will be covered seperately in a different book.

Carrington put out at least 3 distinct books:
Hindu Magic (and I am not sure if this book is the same book as Joseph Ovette's book of the similar title, Miraculous Hindu Feats, which was re-printed in James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed on the Midway and then re-reprinted by a Mr. Jim Rose without any credit whatsoever under the title "Snake Oil")

Sideshow and Animal Tricks

Sideshow Tricks Explained

and

Sideshow Tricks Explained Little Blue Book 1279 (which I assume is the same as the book listed above--but under a different publisher).

Does anyone know about Duff Johnson who put up the House of Deception website (with that extensive sideshow colleciton and bibliography). I wrote him to see if he has info. Sometimes he does and sometimes there is no answer.

One set of cards was made by Leonardo DiCaprio's father........there are also another few sets of cards out there (human freaks and animals freaks).

Mebbe some of those nails went a bit astray as they got pounded up your nose. Gotta watch that ... that's how the Egyptians got started when they pickled a mummy.

Aha! For those that really, really care:

I busted out Ross's CD and the SSTE little blue book and reviewed both. Ross's CD-ROM is great by the way--all of you should have it and he does include an interesting blurb on HC. Of course, not as interesting as the oral conflict alluded to by Harley, but still interesting. (That was probably every magician's fantasy right there--under a seance table! Gotta love it. Now we finally know what made the table rise up off the ground. It was indeed a "member" at the seance table. I always thought it was a latch under a sleeve. Was I ever wrong. Actually, that method seems like levitating a table the hard way.... It sure inspires me to work on methods that are a lot more fun. I guess it turns out there are a lot of people who do "tricks" out there.)

ANYWAYS.....

Well, it turns out that BOTH Todd and I are correct!!! Whew. I was worried there for a moment--it was like contradicting The Almighty.

It seems that almost all of the info in SSTE LBB is in Sideshow and Animal Tricks (on Ross's CD-ROM). Most of the text is exactly the same but ordered differently. But in fact, there are a few differences.

For instance in SSAT he says "There are other preparations that may be used for the same purpose; some of which I have already described in my Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, pp. 402-4. For example:"

Whereas in SSTE LBB he says, "There are other preparations that may be used for the same purpose. For example:" Here he leaves out the more complete "some of which I have already described in my Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism, pp. 402-4".

It seems that SSAT also covers Animal Tricks, Gambler's Secrets, Stage Effects and Ventriloquism, which is not in SSTE LBB. SSTE LBB, however includes a section on Feats of Strength that SSAT does not. I guess it is like buying that Hendrix album for that one song that isn't on the others. A great racket!

Ok, I will go crawl back into my nerd-like research cave to uncover the secrets and history of yesteryear.

Eureka! That's who I was thinking of. Thanks Todd.

East Coast Todd

Thanx for the clarification - a bit of scholarship here, what?

Carrington reissued and retitled a number of his books besides what is mentioned above. There is some new or newer info about Carrington and Margery which is little known, perhaps even unknown. I am working on a mini biography of Carrington that I may expand into a fuller bio. He crosses paths often with magicians, mentalists and mediums. I even have a recording of him on a old 1940 radio show. It is not available anywhere that I know of. I will issue it at some point, likely with the book or booklet about him. It will have in it Houdini and Carrington's dealings with each other. The Margery seances and Carrington, and how he helped expose Margery. And lots more. People call him British but his mother was born in America and Carrington lived in America from age 8 onwards except for his time in a private prep school in England. He was as much American as British. - Stefan

Johnson Smith sold those little blue books for 10 cents each in their middle years...and as I recall, their Big Book had probably a hundred titles you could choose from. I had no idea they'd sold so many, thought.

Johnson Smith sold those little blue books for 10 cents each in their middle years...and as I recall, their Big Book had probably a hundred titles you could choose from. I had no idea they'd sold so many, thought.