The Project Gutenberg eBook of Our Show
Title: Our Show
Author: David Solis Cohen
H. B. Sommer
Illustrator: A. B. Frost
Release date: December 7, 2021 [eBook #66895]
Most recently updated: October 18, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Charlene Taylor, Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
From several thousand “opinions,” carefully prepared for the use of the press, we select the following. We shall be happy to give the remainder in similar instalments in the future editions of “Our Show.”
[Special dispatch to the New York Herald.]
“Have just discovered the book on my editorial table—the fun I am still looking for; ’tis harder to find than Livingtone was. The African jungles were tame compared to the general wildness of these pages.—Stanley.”
[From the San Francisco Tribune.]
“No library is complete without it—in the waste basket.”
[From the London Times.]
“We admit that the volume puzzles us. We should be inclined to doubt some of the assertions contained within it, even to consider them preposterous, had we not long ago given up any attempt to account for events or circumstances occurring in America.”
[From Galignani’s Messenger, Paris.]
“We have not read this production in the original, but the French translation assures us that it is a work of grave import. Beneath the simple words there is a depth of meaning and a quiet, dignified tone of determination, which the friends of Liberty would do well to heed. It is a book to be pondered over. The illustrations are by Mons. Jacques Frost, an artist of warm imagination.”
[From the Berlin Freie Presse.]
“It is the only book of the kind we have ever seen—thank Heaven!”
[From the Vienna Court Journal.]
“The Emperor has not been seen in public for several days. We learn from reliable sources that he has been closeted in his study, translating, altering, and localizing an American volume called ‘Our Show,’ to make it appear the official record of our late International Exposition.”
[From the Pekin Argus.]
“The Authors are evidently insane.”
[From the St. Petersburg Daily News.]
“This, with Sherman’s ‘Memoirs,’ Motley’s ‘Dutch Republic,’ and Mrs. Lee Hentz’s ‘Wooed, not Won,’ presents a living argument against those who are in the habit of sneering at American literature. If this work fails to give America a first place in the rank of letters, it will keep her not far from the tail.”
[From the Constantinople Leader.]
“It is the joint production of two geniuses. We doubt whether one genius could have written it and survived.”
[From the Copenhagen Sentinel.]
“Copenhagen is shaken to its centre. Is Sweden dead? Is the land of the immortal Yywxtlmp sleeping? Has the American Exposition become a thing of the past whilst we are yet preparing for it? or are the authors of this book endeavoring, under the guise of an historical novel, to lay the foundation for poisoning the world in the future with the doctrines of Spiritualism? Philadelphia exchanges call it a ‘third term pamphlet.’ We have looked through its pages, and though failing to discover what this means, we found one term for which we thank the authors—the termination.”
[From the Hong Kong Examiner.]
“Americans should receive a book like this with fervor—once every hundred years.”
1776. FUN. HUMOR. BURLESQUE. 1876.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS A REPUBLIC.
OUR SHOW;
A HUMOROUS
ACCOUNT OF THE
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION
IN HONOR OF THE
CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE,
FROM INCEPTION TO COMPLETION,
INCLUDING
DESCRIPTION OF BUILDINGS—BIOGRAPHIES OF MANAGERS—RECEPTIONS OF FOREIGN
DIGNITARIES—OPENING CEREMONIES—POEM—ORATION—AMUSING SURVEY
OF ALL DEPARTMENTS, INCIDENTS, ETC. ETC.
BY
DAISY SHORTCUT AND ARRY O’PAGUS.
PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED BY A. B. FROST.
PHILADELPHIA:
CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER,
624, 626, and 628 Market Street.
THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, NEW YORK.
1876.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
CLAXTON, REMSEN, & HAFFELFINGER,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All rights reserved.
PHILADELPHIA:
COLLINS, PRINTER,
705 Jayne Street.
DEDICATION.
After forty days and forty nights of unceasing meditation, we have completed this important contribution to
AMERICAN LITERATURE.
It was especially designed for dedication to Mrs. Victoria Guelph, the representative of our mother country, as a pleasing, though tardy equivalent for the real estate confiscated by the boys who ran away
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
But, our far-sighted Secretary of State, an official of the first water, has pointed out to us the impropriety of especially distinguishing one, of the many countries interested in “Our Show;” an action likely to give birth to those bickerings and petty jealousies among the nations which are so apt to lead to grave results.
We desire, above all things, the general good. Under no circumstances would we insist upon anything apt to disturb the peace and harmony of the world; therefore, we select for the honor of a dedication, the private parties we think most deserving,
OURSELVES.
Daisy Shortcut respectfully dedicates his portion of this work to his friend and bottle-holder Arry O’Pagus, and Mr. O’Pagus returns the compliment, by dedicating the outpourings of his colossal intellect to Daisy Shortcut, and, joining hands, they sign themselves,
The Purchaser’s
Most Obedient Servants.
Parlor C, Continental Hotel,
Philadelphia, December 1st, 1875.