P. T. Barnum

The Humbugs of the World (Dodo Press) P. T. Barnum

Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891), was an infamous American showman. In 1835 he purchased and exhibited a blind and almost completely paralyzed African- American slave woman, Joice Heth, claimed by Barnum to have been the nurse of George Washington, and to be over a hundred and sixty years old. His collection later included Charles Stratton (the celebrated midget "General Tom Thumb"), the Fiji Mermaid, the original Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker and the traditional Native American dancer Do-Hum-Me. In 1871, he established "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Circus", a travelling amalgamation of circus, menagerie and museum of "freaks", which by 1872 was billing itself as "The Greatest Show on Earth". The show's primary attraction was Jumbo, an African elephant. Barnum wrote several books, including The Humbugs of the World (1865), Struggles and Triumphs (1869) and The Art of Money Getting (1880). Mass publication of his autobiography was one of his more successful methods of self-promotion.