Hubert's Freaks: The Rare-Book Dealer, the Times Square Talker, and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus | 
 enlarge | Author: Gregory Gibson
Publisher: Harcourt
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 103821
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 0151012334
Dewey Decimal Number: 779.2
EAN: 9780151012336
ASIN: 0151012334
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Bob Langmuir is an obsessive dealer with a remarkable eye for treasure who makes the discovery of a lifetime when he chances upon a trove of never-before-seen prints by the legendary Diane Arbus. From the moment he purchases a trunk containing the archive of Hubert’s Dime Museum and Flea Circus—a midcentury Times Square freak show frequented by Arbus—and discovers some intriguing photographs, he knows he’s on to something. Furthermore, he begins to suspect that what he’s found may add a pivotal chapter to what is now known about Arbus and the “old weird America,” in Greil Marcus’s phrase, that Hubert’s inhabited. Langmuir’s ensuing adventure, filled with bizarre coincidences, turns into a roller-coaster ride that takes him from memorabilia shows to the curator’s office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Will the photos be authenticated? How will the Arbus estate react? most important, can Bob, who has seen more than a few promising deals head south, finally make his one big score?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Excellent writing and good grasp of cultural environment July 30, 2008
To be honest, I am not a major fan of Arbus. However I have read two other books by Gibson and was taken by the clean writing and the way he ties things together. Well, it turned out to be not about her, but about a book collector who developed a fixation with collecting and with the posthumous papers and photos of the well-regarded photographer of unusual people. It is also about the workings of the art world, high-end auction houses, and the collectors who feed material into art commerce.
There are also some interesting and cogent sections on certain parts of american culture, for example, the dime freak shows that employed Arbus' subjects and the urban folk culture of the 60's.
Hubert's Freaks has a great deal of interesting material. And the pacing makes it easy to take it all in.
I've read it twice.
Frank O'Brien
Truth is Better than Fiction in this Twisted Story June 27, 2008
"Truth really is stranger than fiction in this book about how an off the wall rare book dealer discovers a fabulous treasure trove of lost Diane Arbus photographs when he buys a trunk from a guy claiming to be a member of the Nigerian Royal family."
 An encounter with the shadow side... June 21, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I suspect that if Carl Jung were alive today he would have gladly contributed a blurb to Gibson's book. One of the things today's contemporary culture has an ambivalence toward is what Jung referred to as our shadow-side, the dark underbelly of consciousness that drives our obsessions, fascinations, perversions, and behaviors in ways we don't always want to own. Diane Arbus was a photographer who was keenly attuned to the shadow in all of us and especially in the culture of her era. In Hubert's Freaks, Gibson has tuned into that strange, dark, fascinating and alluring realm --- both through the subject matter and through the character of his hero/anti-hero Bob Langmuir, a man with more than a nodding acquaintance with his own shadow-side.
In addition to the main story of how Langmuir came to acquire the Arbus photos, his trials and tribulations in authenticating them, and the circuitous route to making a profit from them, there is the equally fascinating side stories of the people of Hubert's Museums. The "freaks", some with their own physical anomalies, others with an ability to tantalize the shadow-side of Americans willing to trade 25 cents for a few minutes in their presence.
This is the sort of book that you start wondering what you will find and finish wondering where you have been --- a world of freaks and the photos that immortalize them from a time that seems long ago but is as close as the world wide web. Fascinating.
An outstanding novel packed with unusual twists and turns June 6, 2008
An outstanding novel packed with unusual twists and turns, HUBERT'S FREAKS revolves around obsessive antiques dealer and treasure hunter Bob Langmuir, who uncovers unique prints by the legendary Diane Arbus, in the process discovering a new side of not only artist Arbus but the 'weird America' she captured in film. His survey of antiques, freak show exhibits, and more evolves into a catchy road show of discovery in a novel packed with adventure, and highly recommended as a fine leisure read.
Amazing book May 15, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I loved this book. I read it straight through like it was a detective novel. I could not wait to see what would happen next. I loved the story and the strange characters, especially Bob. But most of all, I loved Gibson's wry humor and beautiful writing. This is a compelling and wonderful book.
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