author

H. B. Sommer

Best known as the co-author of Our Show, a lively 1876 satire of Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition, this elusive writer left behind a witty snapshot of a major moment in American cultural history. Even with very little biographical detail surviving, the book’s playful energy still comes through clearly.

1 Audiobook

Our Show A Humorous Account of the International Exposition in Honor of the Centennial Anniversary of American Independence, from Inception to Completion, Including Description of Buildings, Biographies of Managers, Receptions of Foreign Dignitaries, Opening Ceremonies, Poem, Oration, Amusing Survey of All Departments, Incidents, Etc., Etc.

Our Show A Humorous Account of the International Exposition in Honor of the Centennial Anniversary of American Independence, from Inception to Completion, Including Description of Buildings, Biographies of Managers, Receptions of Foreign Dignitaries, Opening Ceremonies, Poem, Oration, Amusing Survey of All Departments, Incidents, Etc., Etc.

by David Solis Cohen, H. B. Sommer

About the author

Very little confirmed biographical information about H. B. Sommer appears to survive in readily available reliable sources. The clearest trace is as co-author, with David Solis Cohen, of Our Show, a humorous 1876 account of the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

That work presents the great international fair with a comic, burlesque touch, suggesting a writer interested in satire, public spectacle, and the social mood of the time. Because the record is so thin, it is safest to remember Sommer through the book itself: a spirited piece of period humor tied to one of the best-known celebrations of nineteenth-century American independence.

For modern listeners, that obscurity can be part of the appeal. Our Show offers not just entertainment, but a rare surviving glimpse of how a contemporary observer chose to laugh at one of the United States’ grandest exhibitions.