Barnum's Book #1 (From Eric Beheim)

Barnum1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. 1888, when Frank Buck was only 4 years old, P.T. Barnum published WILD BEASTS, BIRDS AND REPTILES OF THE WORLD - THE STORY OF THEIR CAPTURE, a book for younger readers telling how wild animals were obtained for The Greatest Show on Earth. Part natural history lesson and part adventure yarn (with a little dash of hokum thrown in), the book lists Barnum as the author (although it is generally acknowledged that it was actually written by someone in his press department.) The text is lavishly illustrated with many old 19th Century line drawings and engravings of wild animals, birds and reptiles. Barnum introduces all of the main characters as if they are actual people. The two leads are teenaged cousins Bob Marshall and Dick Brownell, who are part of an African expedition sponsored by Barnum for the purpose of obtaining animals for his circus. The leader of the expedition is Carl Godkin, age about 50, who, according Barnum, entered his service while still a boy and who is one of his most trusted agents. The party also includes Jack Harvey, a Texas cowboy and his horse Apache. (Barnum claimed to have met him in San Antonio ten years earlier.) Rounding out the featured cast is Pongo, an African bushman who, much to everyone’s amazement, owns and uses several Australian boomerangs. There are also 9 natives bearers, “gathered from the wild tribes near the south-east coast.” The book opens with the expedition “in Bechuana Land near the Kalihari Desert and almost under the Tropic of Capricorn.” The plot unfolds as a series of adventures that usually have to do with capturing a particular animal species. Barnum or Carl Godkin will often provide some interesting facts and background information about the animal they are on the lookout for. The mishaps and narrow escapes that occur while attempting to make the captures provide most of thrills. Once an animal is safely caged or penned, Barnum will sometimes remark that it is now in the menagerie of his famous circus. A little over halfway through the book, the expedition members split up. Godkin and Dick Brownell go to India to capture animals “peculiar to the country,” while Jack Harvey and Bob Marshall go to the “Gaboon Country of West Africa” to obtain chimpanzees and perhaps a gorilla. (In addition to some chimps, they actually succeed in capturing a young gorilla. During the voyage home, however, it sickened and dies, causing Barnum to remark that, “The effort to bring a live gorilla to America had once more failed, and, as I write these closing lines, I have to repeat that success in that respect remains yet to be attained.” Although not a classic like TREASURE ISLAND or SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, Barnum’s book was undoubtedly quite popular in its day. It might even have inspired some of its young readers to seek out careers in zoology and/or working with wild and exotic animals. Eric