Special Song Book of the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Combined With Pawnee Bill’s Great Far East.
Chicago, Illinois: Will Rossiter, 1912. 16 pp songbook measuring 10 x 13 ½ inches, in paper wraps. Wraps worn especially at edges, with wrinkling and several large folds; very good minus. Contents toned with some wrinkling, folds, and spots of rubbing, with one larger tear; very good minus. Overall very good minus. Item #List38127
A novelty songbook for the combined Wild West shows of Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Pawnee Bill’s Great Far East, also called the “Two Bills Show.” The alternate title on the back cover is Buffalo Bill’s and Pawnee Bill’s Big Minstrels Song and Joke Book. The inside cover contains “Cracker-Jack Conundrums,” a collection of two-line jokes, and the back has “A Dictionary of Dreams and Their Meanings.” The songbook’s cover illustration shows a caricature of a Native American chief on horseback, with an inset portrait of “Buffalo Bill” Cody and “Pawnee Bill.” Born Gordon Lillie in Bloomington, Illinois, Pawnee Bill got his start in Wild West shows working as Buffalo Bill’s Pawnee interpreter. He launched his own show in 1888 with his wife, May Manning, which expanded to include the “eastern” element mentioned in this songbook’s title, with Mexican cowboys such as the popular “Mexican Joe” (Jose Barrera) and Pawnee performers alongside Japanese and Arab acts. We find no copies of the songbook on OCLC.
Price: $600.00