Autograph letter signed ('P. T. Barnum') to a doctor, reading "I am afraid it will be difficult for you to hit the bull's eye at long range but I want you to try it. My stomach and bowels are out of order. For ten days my tongue has been coated every morning. I have a bitter rising into my throat after each meal Suppose you try to set me right by mail?", one page, two horizontal folds, some light stains, 8vo , Waldemere, Bridgeport, 7 February, 1883. Also included are two original carte-de-visite albumen prints, showing Barnum with Anna H. Swann of Nova Scotia and with Captain Martin Van Buren Bates, who at this time were the tallest married couple in the world, original mounts, some age toning , c. 1860s. (3) Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) was an American showman and businessman. He began his career at the age of 25 when he bought a slave named Joice Heth who he claimed was 161 years old and formerly George Washington's nurse. The claim caused a sensation and by 1842 Barnum had established the American museum in New York City in which he exhibited many oddities including the Fiji Mermaid. Later in life Barnum went into politics and became mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1875. In 1881 he merged with rival James A. Bailey, to found the famous Barnum and Bailey's Circus, which became the most popular circus in the country.