The Museum of Juggling

Historical Library


Here are some books and articles on the history of juggling, as well as a link to one of the largest real world juggling libraries. There are a number of other historical references in the Ethnography section of the museum.

Books in the Wilkins collection

Libraries

The Juggling Library
Mary Wilkins hosts a juggling research library in Southern Cailfornia. It is one of the largest private collections of juggling literature in the world. It contains most of the English language juggling books published in the last twenty years. Visitors are welcome by appointment, and Mary is also happy to answer questions by mail.

Books

Juggling - its history and greatest performers by Francisco Alvarez
We are very grateful to Francisco Alvarez for permission to reproduce his fine book in full at the JIS. It is a good general history of juggling, with particular attention paid to the vaudeville era.

Juggling, the Art and its Artists by Karl-Heinz Ziethen and Andrew Allen
Included here are two valuable sections from this book, "Biographical Information", and "A Brief History of Juggling".

New Juggling Tricks by Prof. Ellis Stanyon
This little book, consisting of twenty one pages of text, was published in 1901 and was the first publication entirely devoted to juggling in the western tradition.

Juggling by Rupert Ingalese
This book on how to juggle was published in England in 1921. It gives a good description of many of the tricks that were popular at the time, including plate manipulation, and hat, cigar and cane tricks. Also included is an addendum featuring a five page catalog of juggling props for sale.

Magazines

Juggler's Bulletin published by Roger Montandon
Juggler's Bulletin was was the first magazine devoted to juggling. It was published from 1947 for several years, and contains much information of historical importance, including John Breen's fascinating article, Juggling Firsts. With the kind permission of Roger Montandon we are in the process of making the complete magazine available at the JIS.

Juggler's World 40th Anniversary Issue
This special edition of Juggler's World contains a wealth of information on the history of the IJA, as well as articles on the history of prop making, juggling publications, vaudeville and other topics.

Articles

Just Juggling Jottings by Clever Conkey
From the Vaudeville Missouri Breeze, October 1st, 1915, this article gives a brief description of the leading jugglers of the day.

Jugglers and Juggling by Dr. Henry R. Evans
This article was published in Linking Ring, a magic magazine, in February and March 1938. It gives a brief survey of juggling history and talks about Cinquevalli, Everhart and D'Alvini.

Notes Toward a History of Juggling by Marcello Truzzi with Massimiliano Truzzi
This paper from Bandwagon, Vol. 18 No. 2, March-April 1974 is a useful survey of juggling history, with an excellent section on Rastelli.

Research in Juggling History by Arthur Lewbel
Here is another general survey of pre-vaudeville references to juggling, and contains a useful bibliography.

Remember the Force Hassan! by Billy Gillen The earliest representation of juggling is in Egyptian tomb paintings from about 4,000 years ago. This article from Juggler's World Volume 38, No. 2 discusses the most famous of these paintings, from Beni Hassan.

Jugglers Create E-Mail Network This article from Juggler's World describes the start up of the Internet mailing list that later became rec.juggling.

Follow the Bouncing Silicone Ball Back To Where It All Began by Bill Giduz
The silicone ball is an expensive but invaluable modern juggling prop. This is an article about its inventor.



The Museum of Juggling is maintained for the Juggling Information Service by Andrew Conway.


© 1997 Juggling Information Service. All Rights Reserved.