Mollie Bailey, The Circus Queen Of The Southwest

BAILEY, OLGA [EDITED BY BESS SAMUEL AYRES]

Publication: Printed by Harben-Spotts Co, Inc, 1943, Dallas

First edition. 8vo. Green cloth, titles printed in black on the front cover and spine, tan front and rear endpapers, [10], 11 - 160 pp., foreword, frontispiece [photograph of Mollie Bailey] illustrated from photographs. Scarce biography of 19th century Texas entertainer. Mollie Bailey, who ran a circus in Texas and the South for almost 50 years, the only woman to do so, was dubbed the "Circus Queen of the Southwest." As a young woman, she rode with Texas Confederate troops and served as a scout and a spy behind enemy lines. In 1869 she and her husband Gus Bailey bought a one-ring tent, the beginning of the circus which was to become a Texas institution and grew to 31 wagons. She lived in Houston and Dallas. Light wear to spine ends and corners, else a very good copy lacking the elusive dust jacket

Inventory Number: 49721Sold -- Contact us