Let’s Play Circus! Another Peek-A-Boo Book by Carrie Dudley, Performers—Us Kids. Ringmaster—Gordon Volland, Jr.
Minneapolis: A Gordon Volland Production presented by The Buzza Co., Craftacres, 1928. Boards. [TOY BOOK] [WOMAN AUTHOR] [RACIST CARICATURE] [STIGMATIZING LANGUAGE]. 8vo oblong (9 ¾” x 13”); [8] illustrated stiff board leaves with peep-holes bound on cloth hinges to the left, and [6] illustrated leaves and a title page bound to the right on the rear board fore-edge; color pictorial boards with cut-out peep holes; blue cloth shelf-back; color pictorial endpapers; scuffing to edges and bumping of corners, light hand-wear; very good. Lacking the pictorial presentation box. Not in Baumgarten or Montanaro. Scarce. OCLC locates this in 6 libraries. Very good. Item #1791
One of the peep-books by the author and illustrator, Carrie [Douglas] Dudley Evans (1894-1982). This peep-hole book features changing pictures and words. The text is written as if spoken and written by a young child, complete with deliberate misspellings. The board leaves on the left of the book have peep-holes so that when interleaved with those on the right they change pictures and tell a story about children playing circus. Some of the children name-call their playmates and goad them, much as they might in life.
Bright illustrations of children at play mask the racist nature of the front board which features a “Wild Man” in a wheeled cage drawn by a goat. The pictured “Wild Man” is labeled on the free-front endpaper as “Wild Kanibull Frum Feegee ilez” and pictures a Brown skinned child with exaggerated lips and dressed as a cannibal caricature. In further offensive stigmatizing language for dwarfs, the text speaks of “FREEKS” and “FREAKS’ at the circus and “actin’like a midget.”
One of the peep-books by the author and illustrator, Carrie [Douglas] Dudley Evans (1894-1982). This peep-hole book features changing pictures and words. The text is written as if spoken and written by a young child, complete with deliberate misspellings. The board leaves on the left of the book have peep-holes so that when interleaved with those on the right they change pictures and tell a story about children playing circus. Some of the children name-call their playmates and goad them, much as they might in life.
Bright illustrations of children at play mask the racist nature of the front board which features a “Wild Man” in a wheeled cage drawn by a goat. The pictured “Wild Man” is labeled on the free-front endpaper as “Wild Kanibull Frum Feegee ilez” and pictures a Brown skinned child with exaggerated lips and dressed as a cannibal caricature. In further offensive stigmatizing language for dwarfs, the text speaks of “FREEKS” and “FREAKS’ at the circus and “actin’like a midget.”.
Price: $450.00