Circus and Sideshow in the Long Nineteenth Century: A Documentary History
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- ISBN 9781032454917
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 29 Jun 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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This volume establishes the historical foundations of the modern circus, tracing its development from pre-Astley entertainments to nineteenth-century British performance culture. Drawing extensively on rare archival materials, it situates circus within a wider entertainment ecology that includes pantomime, music hall, and theatre. The collection reveals intersections between innovation, engineering, and spectacle, highlighting animal training, aerial performance, and creative experimentation as key sites of development. Attention to provincial activity, particularly in Bristol, enriches understanding of regional practice. Scholarly commentary and primary sources together illuminate the social, cultural, and technological forces that shaped circus as a dynamic popular form.
Gillian Arrighi is a researcher, author, teacher, consultant, and speaker. Her published research spans circus studies, popular entertainments of the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, children and the stage, acting and new performance making, and digital methods for visualising historic research.
Kim Baston is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Her research focuses on popular entertainments in the eighteenth century, circus history and culture, and the intersection of music and theatre.
Kate Holmes is an interdisciplinary independent researcher and expert in aerial performance practice and circus history. She uses a variety of approaches to consider circus as a historically situated cultural phenomenon that appealed to audiences because of the sensational experiences it promised. Kate’s research has considered how world events influenced circus performers’ careers and explored how audience experience was guided by promotional practices and differences in early twentieth century North American and British circus spaces.
