{"product_id":"the-selected-letters-of-p-a-h-saxon-9780231054126","title":"The Selected Letters of P. T. Barnum","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"I believe hugely in advertising and blowing my own trumpet, beating the gongs, drums, to attract attention to a \u003ci\u003eshow,\"\u003c\/i\u003e Phineas Taylor Barnum wrote to a publisher in 1860. \"I don't believe in 'duping the public, ' but I believe in first \u003ci\u003eattracting\u003c\/i\u003e and then pleasing them.\"The name P.T. Barnum is virtually synonymous with the fine art of self-advertisement and the apocryphal statement, \"There's a sucker born every minute.\" Nearly a century after his death, Barnum remains one of America's most celebrated figures. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the \u003ci\u003eSelected Letters of P.T. Barnum, \u003c\/i\u003e A.H. Saxon brings together more than 300 letters written by the self-styled \"Prince of Humbugs.\" Here we see him, opinionated and exuberant, with only the rarest flashes of introspection and self-doubt, haggling with business partners, blustering over politics, and attempting to get such friends as Mark Twain to endorse his latest schemes. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAlways the king of showmen, Barnum considered himself a museum man first and was forever on the lookout for \"curiosities,\" whether animate or inanimate. His early career included such outright frauds as Joice Heth, the \"161-year-old nurse of George Washington,\" and the Fejee Mermaid-the desiccated head and torso of a monkey sewn to the body of a fish. Although in later years he projected a more solid, respectable image-managing the irreproachable \"legitimate\" attraction Jenny Lind, becoming a leading light in the temperance crusade, founding the Barnum \u0026amp; Bailey Circus-much of his daily existence continued to be unabashedly devoted to manipulating public opinion so as to acquire for himself and his enterprises what he delightedly termed \"notoriety.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHis famous autobiography, \u003ci\u003eThe Life of P.T. Barnum, \u003c\/i\u003e which he regularly augmented during the last quarter century of his life, was itself a masterpiece of self-promotion. \"Will you have the kindness to announce that I am writing my life \u0026amp; that fifty-seven different publishers have applied for the chance of publishing it,\" he wrote to a newspaper editor, adding, \"Such is the fact-and if it wasn't, why still it ain't a bad announcement.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eSelected Letters of P.T. Barnum\u003c\/i\u003e captures the magic of this consummate showman's life, truly his own \"greatest show on earth.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e A. H. Saxon\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0231054122\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780231054126\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Columbia University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/09\/1983\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 351\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.36w x 1.20d","brand":"A. H. Saxon","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44056681578751,"sku":"9780231054126","price":75.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_45b85943-f8eb-4822-a802-f4822eacc605.jpg?v=1685042673","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-selected-letters-of-p-a-h-saxon-9780231054126","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}