[RADICAL & PROLETARIAN LITERATURE] TULLY, Jim (novel); GROPPER, William (illustrations)

Circus Parade

Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1927. Reprint. Octavo (20.75cm); dark red cloth, with titling and decorations stamped in yellow on spine and front cover; pictorial endpapers; yellow topstain; dustjacket; [viii],280pp; illus. Slight forward lean, spine ends gently nudged, with a handful of small stains to right edge of textblock; Very Good+. Dustjacket is edgeworn, spine-sunned, with a few small chips at spine ends, several short tears and attendant creases; Very Good.

"Despite its cheery-sounding title, Circus Parade is light years away from Toby Tylerland, presenting a dark, violent and thoroughly unromanticized portrait of life on the road with a traveling show -- described by Tully as "generally a canvas nest of petty thieves and criminals among the lower gentry." The book's depictions of casual brutality -- including a shocking account of the troupe's exploitation of a young black girl's sexual favors -- got it banned in Boston and caused an uproar with circus fans (and, unsurprisingly, circus owners), which helped to put the kibosh on a proposed film adaptation by James Cruze" (PROUTY 4).

Price: $75.00

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