How to build a collection of juggling literature

By Mary Wisser Anaheim, CA

 

The typical juggler's juggling book collection consists of two or three books. Maybe he or she also has a scrapbook with some newspaper clippings. This article will help those who want to go further. There is literature available on juggling. The keys to building a collection are taking the time to hunt, knowing the places to look, and knowing the people to contact for help.

 

The easy way to buy current juggling books is to go to a library and ask for Subject Guide to Books In Print. Every library has a copy. Be sure to get the volume with the "J" and look under juggling. The information in this book includes author, title, publisher and price for all the books on juggling in print. (For out-of-print books see below.) A companion volume in this series will give you the publisher's address.

 

Ask the librarian for help. Your library may also have Subject Guide to Forthcoming Books which has information on books announced for publication in the next five months.

 

To find magazine articles on juggling, look in Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature. This is an index to about 160 U.S. periodicals of broad, nontechnical, general and popular character. It gives the exact date, inclusive paging, illustrations, etc. for each article.

 

Newspaper articles on juggling are harder to find. Some newspapers are indexed. These are some of those indexed: Christian Science Monitor, National Observer, New York Daily Tribune (1907 only) New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New Orleans Times-PIc­ayune, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. Large libraries have indexes.

 

There are also specialty magazines and newspapers which sometimes include information on juggling. These are: Midway (a weekly newspaper) Mime Times, The Linking Ring, Unicycling SocIety of America Newsletter, Southern Sawdust, Clown Crier, The Specialty Showman & Cavalcade of Clowns Newspaper, Little Circus Wagon, The White Tops, Bandwagon, The Circus Report, Amusement Business, The Calliope, Clown Chatter and Mime News.

There is no standard juggling bibliography, but are a number of bibliographies available. These include

 

1) Hermann Sagemuller's bibliography,

2) Fumbles on Juggling bibliography in The Calliope May 1977,

3) Juggler's Bulletin April 1945 page 25

4) Larry Weeks' bibliography in Juggler's Bulletin January 1946 pages 60-61 and July 1946 pages 85-86.

6) [sic] My own bibliography here

7)"A Chronological Bibliography of Paul Cinquevalli 1859-1918" in IJA Newsletter September and October 1973

8) "Of Juggling Interest," a series of articles by Roger Montandon on juggling literature in the IJA Newsletter during 1961

9) "Juggling-An Annotated Checklist" by Edgar Heyl in IJA Newsletter December 1950

and

10) "Books About Jugglers" by Dennis Soldati in IJA Newsletter June-July 1976, page 10.

The largest bibliography is by Raymond Toole-Stott in four volumes. Circus and Allied Arts; A World Bibliography 1500-1970. This lists books and pamphlets in various languages dealing with circus history and biography; technical aspects of performances; and the circus in drama, literature, art and fiction. He has also written A Bibliography of Books on the Circus in English from 1773 to 1964. This lists five rare juggling books.

 

The history of juggling makes interesting reading. Some sources for juggling history are: M. Willson Disher's "Jugglers and Juggling" in The Sawdust Ring, winter 1937-38. Dr. Henry R. Evans "Jugglers and Juggling" in The Linking Ring February 1938, Jack Greene's "Out of the Past" in Jugglers Bulletin Annual 1951, Max Koch's "History of the Juggling Art" in Jugglers' Bulletin Annual 1952 and Marcello Truzzi with Massimiliano Truzzi "Notes Toward a History of Juggling" in Bandwagon March-April 1974.

 

Some jugglers have written juggling columns, e.g. Rich Chamberlin and Tom Sikorsky in The Calliope. Jugglers also write small newsletters, e.g. Juggler's News from L.A. Juggler's Forum by Gene Jones and The Bug Bulletin from Juggle Bug, Inc.'s Dave Finnigan.

 

No article on juggling collecting would be complete without the name Roger Montandon. He is the best source for out­of-print juggling books. He was the editor of the Collector's Bulletin, a quarterly with 18  issues. Most issues contained material of juggling interest. He was also the editor of the Juggler's Bulletin, a monthly with 52 issues between October 1944 and September 1949. (Special issues were published in November 1954 and September 1955.) He also was the editor of the Juggler's Bulletin Annuals of 1950, 51 and '52.