Circus, Sideshow & Oddities

Buffalo Bill’s First Wild West Performance Program. Inscribed in ink to title page “William Jacobs/Omaha, Nebraska/1883/1st show.” William Jacobs was a private in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Omaha, Nebraska beginning in February 1882. This program for Cody & Carver’s Rocky Mountain & Prairie Exhibition, with the Famed Scout and Indian Fighter Buffalo Bill (Hon. W.F. Cody), and Dr. W.F. Carver, King of Riflemen, and Acknowledged Champion Marksman of the World, Will Soon Appear in This City (Hartford, CT: Calhoun Printing Company, 1883) is likely the only surviving program of the initial performance of the Wild West show on May 19, 1883. It was sold at the first performance to help the audience understand the purpose of the Wild West “exhibition” and about the key performers. Profusely illustrated. Extremities chipped and soiled, front cover nearly detached, old cloth repair to spine with several later repairs throughout; interior intact and generally clean. Perhaps the rarest of all the surviving Buffalo Bill’s Wild West programs.