Photograph by Tim Hout

The Circus: 1870-1950, edited by Noel Daniel [Taschen, $200]

Before the advent of movies, people in search of entertainment went to the circus. The big top's glory days may be long gone, but this visual treatment—a book containing hundreds of shots by everyone from Weegee to Charles and Ray Eames, and more than 300 posters (like one for BLACAMAN: HINDU ANIMAL HYPNOTIST)—lets you marvel at the Chinese acrobats, boxing kangaroos, and bike-riding bears you were born too late to see in person. Timothy Hodler