This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/18/2023
Humbug: A Look at Some Popular Impositions. New York: S.F. French, 1859. Original pictorial wrappers. A few illustrations. 12mo. 94pp. Rear wrap and spine perished, front wrapper chipped at upper and lower extremities with loss, title-page missing lower ½”, front wrap worn, torn, gatherings loose. A good example of this very rare book about cons. With chapters devoted to bogus advertisements and schemes including patent medicine, love powders, astrology, lotteries, and more, reproducing several phony broadsides in the text. The cover depicts two of P.T. Barnum’s attractions: the Fiji Mermaid and Joyce Heath [sic].