Howell, Michael & Ford, Peter – True History of the Elephant Man, The

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The True History of the Elephant Man: The Definitive Account of the Tragic and Extraordinary Life of Joseph Carey Merrick

The True History of the Elephant Man is a biography of Joseph Merrick written by Michael Howell and Peter Ford. It was published in 1980 in London, by Allison & Busby. It was distributed in the United States by Schocken Books. A second edition was published in 1983. Following Michael Howell’s death in 1986, Peter Ford published a third edition of the book in 1992.

Joseph Carey Merrick, born in England on August 5, 1862, is better known as The Elephant Man. Through horrible physical deformities which were almost impossible to describe, he spent much of his life exhibited as a fairground freak until even nineteenth-century sensibilities could take no more. Hounded, persecuted and starving, he ended up at London’s Liverpool Street Station where he was rescued, housed and fed by the distinguished surgeon Frederick Treves. To Treves’ surprise, he discovered during the course of their friendship that lurking beneath the mass of Merrick’s corrupting flesh lived a spirit that was as courageous as it had been tortured, and a nature as gentle and dignified as it had been deprived and tormented. The subject of several books, a Broadway hit, and a film, Joseph Merrick has become part of popular mythology. Here, in this fully revised edition containing new details, are the true and unromantic facts of his life. This is an extraordinary and moving story, set among the brutal realities of the Victorian world, telling of a tragic individual and his survival against overwhelming odds.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allison and Busby (3rd edition, 1981)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 247 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0749005165
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0749005160
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 0.87 x 7.76 inches