Dark Art and Letters at the 'Freakshow'

Credit: Pixabay

Well, we're in the latter half of the summer now, the halfway point having been this past Monday. By the way, there was no blog post then because the previous Wednesday was an Insecure Writers support group (IWSG) blog hop. If you haven’t done so yet, you can read my contribution to it here. However, the summer is really flying by like a trapeeze artist! Speaking of which, my childhood summers were full of circuses. I loved going to the circus! Until I learned of the dark side of many of them. I was eventually disillusioned of the way many of the animals were treated. Still, I can’t help cherishing my memories of visits to the circus. 

So, as an adult, I’ve turned to the alternative. One that also often has a dark side but in a different sense: the nouveau cirque (‘new circus’). This type of circus is often inspired by the sideshows, also known as "freakshows", of traditional circuses of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Even so, they tend to have a much more humanitarian stance on the treatment of animals and human performers no matter how different they are. 

So, I was sure to attend the nouveau cirque that was in town on the last weekend of July. Actually, it was more of an oddities market but it included some small circus acts. It was Menagerie Oddities and Curiosities’ second annual "Freakshow!" (as it was titled) held on Saturday the 29th at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria in Sacramento, California. While the artwork, strange yet hilarious clowns, skeletons of animals (said to be ethically obtained) and a presentation on early, real freakshows were great, or interesting at the very least, the attractions I want to talk about here on this blog of literary strangeness are antiquated horror books and their accessories. 

A Vendor of Antique-Style Horror Books 

Because this was held on the complex of a library, this oddities market wouldn't have been quite complete without a literary side (“show”) to it. After all, many of us book nerds are oddities or freaks ourselves, especially those of us who read (and, like myself, write) horror. One of the vending artists at this show was The Bookish Den. They had their booth of gothic wooden bookmarks and antique-style horror books. Many of the latter were covered in decorative gift wrap with gothic illustrations such as skulls, with text in the background. The work was so beautifully done it would be hard for any receiver of one of these gift books to tear the wrapper off! 

The bookmarks were cleverly made. They were wood with woodcut illustrations of gothic scenes such as graveyards, skeletons, bats and other creatures of the night. I thought they were so beautifully done, I purchased one featuring a graveyard scene with a giant skull hovering over it. When I got home that evening, I slipped it in my copy of an M.R. James short story collection. The Bookish Den was on the ground level floor of the vending area.

Rare, Illustrated Edition of a Poe’s ‘The Raven’ 

The second floor had vendors along the mezzanine that overlooked the first floor vendors. There were a lot of neat stuff up there too, including terrifying teddies and other such plushes, but one of the things that struck me most actually wasn’t at any of the vendor booths. It was inside the Sacramento Room where many old and rare books are shelved. It was an antique book of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" that a librarian was exhibiting. 

This early edition of Poe’s famous gothic poem was folio size and had a lithograph of a winged/angelic man on the cover. Each line from the poem was featured on its own page with a corresponding page of an illustration opposite it. These lithographic illustrations were nearly photographic! They kind of reminded me of the art in my copy of “The Illustrated Poe” by Satty.  

But that’s only an antique of the 1970s, (and so not really quite an antique yet). The copy of “The Raven” exhibited at the library goes as far back as the Victorian era. The book was very old, and you could tell that it was fragile by its loose cover and browning pages. The librarian had to use latex gloves to turn the pages. I wish I had a photo of it, but I (as nobody should) dared not take a picture of it in its fragile condition. 

Even though I couldn't get a picture of the book, here are some pics I took in other parts of the oddities market that you might find fascinating: 

Newsletter

I’m running later than I originally have been on the newsletter, “Night Creatures’ Call”, for July and August. A power outage in my neighbourhood last Wednesday set me back on some things and, unfortunately, the newsletter was one of them. I was without power from the early evening into the early morning hours. 

So, I ask that you give me another week to get the newsletter out. Just keep checking your in-boxes for those of you who subscribe. For those of you who don’t subscribe, you can do so for free here. In “Night Creatures’ Call”, I discuss the details of my latest projects, such as my upcoming book of short fiction, “Bad Apps”.

Have you been to an oddities show or a nouveau cirque? What’s the oldest book you’ve seen in person? 

Until next time . . .