Fairground Fiction
Stories about, or set in,
the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition
REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT WORLD’S FAIR FICTION
“Big Shoulders” comic series plans to visit the 1893 World’s Fair
“A crossroads is where destinies can get made or broken,” states Big Shoulders #1, the first of a proposed six-issue full-color comic series. This Chicago-based fantasy, where the mundane and the cosmic collide, features twenty-two-year-old Coda Walker waking up and finding himself transported to the 1893 World’s Fair. Two pages (not yet colored) from Big Shoulders #1, showing Coda Walker in front of the Administration Building at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Art: Scott Gray] Written by John Dudley, with art by Scott Gray and coloring by Faz Choudhury, Big Shoulders has launched a Kickstarter campaign to entice investors [...]
Ron Soule’s “Escape from the Emerald City” imagines an origin story for Oz at the 1893 World’s Fair
Escape from the Emerald City by Ron Soule. Independently published, 2023. 105 pages. Hardcover, $14.95. ISBN 9798395968029. Paperback, $7.95. ISBN 9798395968111. In the growing library of “fairground fiction,” stories that involve historical figures offer a special treat to readers who enjoy imagining how famous (and soon-to-be-famous) people experienced the 1893 World’s Fair. A then-unknown traveling salesman from Chicago visited the fairgrounds on several occasions with his wife and four sons. Only a few years later he would burst onto the literary scene with such acclaimed children’s books such as Mother Goose in Prose (1897) and The Wonderful Wizard of [...]
Season’s Readings: 2023 Books about the World’s Columbian Exposition
This has been a year of rich and valuable additions to the Columbian Exposition bookshelf. Summarized below are important new nonfiction works that explore connections between the Chicago fair and Western Pennsylvania, Lebanon, England, and Massachusetts. Two others look at the religious and spiritual legacy of the Columbian Exposition. New fictional works explore the fairgrounds though the eyes of visitors in both realistic stories and magical adventures. We also include a few late additions that we missed last season. Note: We provide this announcement of new titles without any compensation from authors or publishers. We encourage shopping through independent [...]
DREAM CITY DREAMING by Cindy Angell Keeling
Dream City Dreaming by Cindy Angell Keeling. Petite Parasol Press, 2023. 336 pages. Hardcover, $27.99. ISBN 9798987489000. Paperback, $17.99. ISBN 9798987489017. Kindle $9.99. “There’s magic at the fair that turns the most stalwart souls into hopeless romantics,” asserts one character in Dream City Dreaming by Cindy Angell Keeling. Combining well-rounded characters, a captivating story about visiting the Columbian Exposition, and vivid descriptions of the fairgrounds, this new historical novel crackles with the magic and romance of the 1893 World’s Fair. Any reader who dreams of traveling back in time to the most exciting but ephemeral city on earth will [...]
Season’s Readings: 2022 Books about the World’s Columbian Exposition
2022 brought several additions to the World’s Columbian Exposition bookshelf.
Season’s Readings: 2021 Books about the World’s Columbian Exposition
2019 brought several additions to the World’s Columbian Exposition bookshelf.
Season’s Readings: New Books about the World’s Columbian Exposition
2019 brought several additions to the World’s Columbian Exposition bookshelf.
Season’s Readings: World’s Columbian Exposition Books from 2019
2019 brought several additions to the World’s Columbian Exposition bookshelf.
Columbian Exposition Books from 2018
The 125th anniversary year of the World’s Columbian Exposition offered scholarship, images, and fiction relating to the World’s Fair in several new publications in 2018. Pioneers of Promotion: How Press Agents for Buffalo Bill, P. T. Barnum, and the World’s Columbian Exposition Created Modern Marketing by Joe Dobrow. University of Oklahoma Press. Communications professional and business history writer Joe Dobrow traces the origins of modern American marketing by shining the spotlight on three men: pioneers of promotion John M. Burke of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, Tody Hamilton of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, and Moses P. Handy of [...]
Winter World’s Fair Reading
As we head into the holiday season, you might find some time to enjoy a trip to the 1893 World's Fair through some vintage fiction. Check out our Fair Fiction Library page to connect with some historical novels, fictional memoirs, and juvenile literature. We'd eventually like to offer short summaries or reviews of these titles, so send us your thoughts if you happen to read one of these titles.
VINTAGE FICTION INVOLVING THE 1893 WORLD’S FAIR
- Burnett, Frances Hodgson Two Little Pilgrims Progress. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1895. [Available at Archive.org and Amazon]
- Burnham, Clara Louise Sweet Clover: A Romance of the White City. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1894. [Available at Archive.org]
- Butterworth, Hezekiah Zigzag Journeys in the White City. Estes and Lauriat, 1894. [Available at Archive.org]
- Cobb, Weldon J. A World’s Fair Mystery. Melbourne Publishing, 1892.
- Crowley, Mary Catherine The City of Wonders: A Souvenir of the World’s Fair. William Graham Co., 1894. Reprinted here.
- Dockarty, A. J. (“Ebenezer Slimmens”) Midway Plaisance: The Experience of an Innocent Boy from Vermont in the Famous Midway. Chicago World Book, 1894.
- Dramond, Alonzo E. A Secret of the Midway Plaisance. Byron S Adams, 1893.
- Ferris, George Washington Gale Car No. –: A Romance of the Ferris Wheel. The Narrative of James Black. Corbitt & Skidmore, 1893.
- Finley, Martha Elsie at the World’s Fair. Dodd, Mead, 1894. [Available at Archive.org and Amazon]
- Holley, Marietta Samantha at the Fair. Funk & Wagnalls, 1893. [Available at Archive.org and Amazon]
- Jenks, Tudor The Century World’s Fair Book for Boys and Girls, Being the Adventures of Harry and Philip with their Tutor, Mr. Douglas, at the World’s Columbian Exposition. The Century Co., 1893. [Available at Archive.org]
- Neely, F. Tennyson (“Tennyson”) A Tale of the World’s Fair. P. T. Neeley, 1890. [Available at Archive.org]
- Neville, Edith Alice Ashland: a Romance of the World’s Fair. Peter Fenelon Collier, 1893. [Available at Archive.org and Amazon]
- Rathborne, St. George The Bachelor of the Midway. Mascot Pub. Co., 1894. [Available at Archive.org]
- [Stead, William Thomas] From the Old World to the New; or, A Christmas Story of the World’s Fair, 1893. Review of Reviews, 1892. [Available at Archive.org]
- Stevens, Charles McClellan (“Quondam”) The Adventures of Uncle Jeremiah and Family at the Great Fair. Laird & Lee, 1893. [Available at Archive.org and Amazon]
- Stevens, Charles McClellan (“Quondam”) The Egyptian Harp Girl: A Mystery of the Peristyle. Laird & Lee, 1894.
- [UNKNOWN] A Peep at the World’s Fair. Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1893?
- [UNKNOWN] Jeremiah Judkin’s Trip to the Fair: Being a Truthful Account of a Most Extraordinary Occurrence. Woolson Spice Co., 1894.
- [UNKNOWN] Short Stories with a Glimpse at the Columbian Exposition. N. Malloy, 1893?
- Van Deventer, Emma Murdoch Against Odds: A Detective Story. Rand McNally, 1894; reprinted in Hartman, Donald K. (Ed.) Fairground Fiction: Detective Stories of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Epoch Books, 1992. [Available at Amazon]
- Ward, A. B. (Alice Bailey) “A Medley of the Midway Plaisance” in The Luck of a Good for Nothing. Outing Publishing Co. 1895.
- Western, Carl T. Adventures of Reuben and Cynthy at the World’s Fair, As Told by Themselves. Wellington Pub. Co., 1893.
- Whitson, John Harvey Chicago Charlie, the Columbian Detective. Beadle & Adams, 1893. Hartman, Donald K. (Ed.) Fairground Fiction: Detective Stories of the World’s Columbian Exposition. Epoch Books, 1992. [Available at Amazon]
- Yandell, Enid; Jean Loughborough; Laura Hayes Three Girls in a Flat; Knight Leonard and Co., 1892. [Available at Archive.org and Amazon]