One of the best things about Carnival is that it can be appreciated on so many different levels. There are of course the street parties and the parades to enjoy, but there are also volumes of cultural history that have been written about the celebration and its origins, which can be studied and enjoyed. Here are some Carnival works to consider.

BOOKS IN WIDESPREAD CIRCULATION:

Mardi Gras New Orleans

Henri Schindler

Flammarion

1997

Mardi Gras Treasures: Invitations of the Golden Age

Mardi Gras Treasures: Float Designs of the Golden Age

Mardi Gras Treasures: Costume Designs of the Golden Age

Mardi Gras Treasures: Jewelry of the Golden Age

Henri Schindler

Pelican Publishing

Marched the Day God: A History of the Rex Organization

Errol Laborde

The School of Design

1999

Mardi Gras! A Celebration

Photographs by Mitchel Osborne; Text by Errol Laborde

Picayune Press

1981

Mardi Gras: A Pictorial History of Carnival in New Orleans

Leonard Huber

Pelican Publishing

1977, 1989

Mardi Gras… As It Was

Robert Tallant

Pelican Publishing

1947

Bacchus

Myron Tassin

Pelican Publishing

1975

Mardi Gras and Bacchus: Something Old, Something New

Myron Tassin, Buddy Stall

Pelican Publishing

1984

Mardi Gras Indians

Michael P. Smith

Pelican Publishing

1994

RARE, HARDER TO FIND HISTORIES:

If Ever I Cease to Love: One Hundred Years of Rex 1872-1971

Charles “Pie” Dufour, Leonard Huber

School of Design

1970

A Chronicle of the First Century of the Knights of Momus

Charles “Pie” Dufour

Knights of Momus

1971

Krewe of Proteus: The First Hundred Years

Charles “Pie” Dufour

Upton Printing

1981

The Mistick Krewe: Chronicles of Comus and His Kin

Perry Young

Carnival Press/Standard Printing Company

1931, 1979

Carnival and Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Perry Young

Harmanson’s

1939

New Orleans Masquerade: Chronicles of Carnival

Arthur Burton LaCour, Stuart Omer Landry

Pelican Publishing

1952, 1957