44 résultats
1709réf. 6585London: Henry Hills 1709. Piracy of the First Edition printed in the same year. 16 pp. Catalogue of Hill's Poems on p. 16. 1 vols. 8vo. Disbound. Fine. Piracy of the First Edition printed in the same year. 16 pp. Catalogue of Hill's Poems on p. 16. 1 vols. 8vo. Foxon B527.9 [Henry Hills] unknown books
1938réf. 325170New York: Haper 1938. First Edition. 360pp. 8vo. Cloth. VG in VG pictorial dust jacket. First Edition. 360pp. 8vo. A Harper "Find" novel about the circus inscribed on ffep to the author's parents by the author. Haper unknown books
1945réf. WAS44971Single sheet lithographic poster measuring 20 5/8 x 28 inches some creases and soiling at edges 2 inch closed tear at lower right edge. Printed signature of artist Bill Bailey at lower left edge. This poster was acquired by a collector from the Majestic Poster Press of Los Angeles in the early 1970s. At the time the company held inventory of unused posters printed by other presses as well as their own. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows Inc books
1962réf. 540442no place: Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus 1962. Unbound. Very Good. Advertising poster. Illustrated by Roland Butler. Measuring approximately 21" x 36". Unbacked. Circus details approximately 20½" x 9¼" tipped-on at bottom edge. Old folds with faint creases tiny nicks at the edges modest rubbing with a tiny stain small ink notation and three small tabs adhered at the topedge verso very good. The circus is coming to Philadelphia and it is bringing a very questionable lion tamer. Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus unknown books
réf. 5805CIRCUS. ALS. 3pg. 8 x 11. December 18 1940. Lexington Kentucky. An autograph letter signed W. Shelby Jaxon on The Zephyrs stationery. Jaxon wrote to W.H. Warner the technical director of Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows Inc. The letter states in full: Hello Bill I just received your letter. Sorry you are having a tough time getting the Boys up to practice. I also am having trouble finding some way to practice the Bars. The colleges are Basket Ball Crazy now and I can't practice nights and I have no one to practice in the daytime with me. I just worked a one nighter. I used Big Blakeman as my partner. We were a little slow and stalled a bit but we went over 100% and got encores. So we didn't feel so bad. The warehouses have closed until Jan 2nd and the Barrel Hog Factory has moved out of town. So I won't get any work around here. If I had a Bar Act in shape ready to go I could go to work tomorrow night for 4 straight weeks in clubs and then get a unit show. Blakeman wants to quit his job and go with me. But he needs two months straight practice before he would be presentable. He doesn't realize that I had a top and speedy act when I worked these spots before and that is what they expect me to give them now and I can't do it with him the shape he is in. So I am just letting it go. I have the triple ground bars all set and painted up and ready to go. They really look fine on a stage. I painted the bar tiles gold and shined the uprights and they are the cleanest neat appear stage bars I have ever seen when set on a stage with lights on them. I got a letter from a fellow in Chicago who just finished building a rigging that folds and has two bars. He wants me to work with him and furnish the car and split fifty-fifty. But he says the rigging folds down instead of together. I am not taking any chances as I have no way he has a practical rigging. He wants me to come to Chicago and practice a week and go to work but that costs money when you consider you also have to buy wardrobe and get photos made. So I turned it down not knowing him either. Jake Crumley told him about me. I have a job coming up in four or five weeks which will last about 5 to 7 weeks at pretty fair money. I have got to go out of town to see about it next week. It is for aerialist Harold Voise on serial bars. Did you ever hear from Walter Guice I am rebuilding my car's generator and fooling around with my car in general as I just had a fellow pay me $25.00 he has owned me for over two years that wasn't hard to take. Bill I think I had better stick around and try to pick up something around here until February and then I can go to work for Voise for a few weeks and from there it will be easy going. Let me hear from you and don't worry too much about the bar practice or the folding rigging take it easy. I'll probably be able to send you some money to start on the folding rigging when I go to work for Voise. As Ever W. Shelby Jaxon. unknown books
1870réf. BK0091Likely United States 1870. Photograph approximately 7 ½ × 5 ¼ inches mounted to a larger card with printed oval rules. No photographer's imprint or identification to verso. Mount with edge wear rounded and chipped corners rippling to mount short closed tear at left edge scattered surface wear and spotting; some loss to applied color particularly at the trunks good. A hand-colored albumen photograph showing an unidentified male circus performer or acrobat posed full-length in a studio wearing white tights and slippers decorated trunks wrist cuffs and an elaborate ruffled collar. The performer is likely an acrobat or gymnast. The photograph is unsigned and the subject unidentified; the format and presentation suggest an American origin though similar circus portraits were produced in Europe during the period. unknown books
1892réf. List3690N.p. 1892. Folio 9 ½ x 11 ½ inches. 17 pp. Pink printed newsprint wrappers with photographic portrait of John H. Sparks on the front cover. Covers detached paper toned and fragile as typical of newsprint; fair to good overall. An unrecorded music folio issued for the traveling circus of John H. Sparks in the early 1890s self-described as “The Best Collection of Music Ever Published.” Sparks based in Ohio was building his circus during this period into a touring wagon show combining trained animal acts equestrian performances and sideshow attractions. Sparks toured widely presenting afternoon and evening performances and like other traveling acts relied heavily on printed ephemera for revenue. Songs include “Waiting to Hear the Verdict” by Chales Osbourne; “Annie Reilly” by Johnnie Carroll; “Don’t Abuse the Old Folks” by Will H. Fox; “When the Sea Gives Up its Dead” by J.J. Nolan; “When Summer Comes Again” by James Thornton; “The White Squadron” by Arthur West; “Wait Till My Ship Comes Home” by John Walsh; “My Old Dutch” by Charles Ingle; and “Buy a Nice Little Home in the Country” by Ed. Barry. Several compositions are copyrighted by Frank Harding 1864–1939 at the Royal Copyright Office which is peculiar and suggest the possibility that this was for an English audience though Sparks is not known to have toured England during this period. Harding was a New York music publisher who operated Frank Harding’s Music House at 229 Bowery during the formative years of Tin Pan Alley. unknown books
1937réf. 106410Oblong 4to booklet format illustrated 111 pp. Cover and spine wear spine essentially gone normal aging; about very good for this type item. The Cole Brothers circus was founded in 1884 and lasted until 2016 when animal rights groups essentially drove them out of business. In 2017 Ringling Bros. faced the same fate. In the 1930s the circus included legendary animal trainer Clyde Beatty who is featured in this booklet and Bobo the Clown. This somewhat scarce piece of circus ephemera includes pictures of performers promotional articles official program and route schedule for 1937. Cole Bros Circus, books
1968réf. 52683New York: Electric Circus 1968. First edition. Near fine. Original concert program for an evening organized by the legendary nightclub with performances by electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick and New York Pro Musica under the reassuring oversight of a Consulting Psychologist. The successor to Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable Brandt's Electric Circus opened in 1967 as "the latest total environment McLuhanist discotheque" with light shows jugglers and acrobats Newfield. The opening also featured a presentation of Subotnick's "Silver Apples of the Moon" an early work for synthesizer and the first electronic composition commissioned by a record company. Subotnick curated a series of Monday night concerts at the Electric Circus and at Carnegie Hall in December of 1967 an "Electric Christmas." Electric Easter the sequel likewise featured New York Pro Musica. Their inclusion was a suggestion by Dr. Edgar Coons NYU psychology professor and former student of Virgil Thomson who had had his mind previously blown by an Electric Circus light and rock show and "for reasons he leaves a bit vague" Ross thought an early music ensemble covering The Beatles's "Hello Goodbye" in faux-medieval French would be a good idea. Soul group The Chambers Brothers closed performing Perusio's "Le grant désir". Critics loved it. 8.5'' x 5.5''. Original green and yellow bifold leaf. Minimal edgewear very faint creasing. Bright and sharp. (Electric Circus) unknown books
1927réf. BK0205N.p. 1927. Halftone-printed promotional card 5 ¾ × 9 ½ inches. Printed caption and Century Photographers credit within the image; blank verso. Some toning soiling and wear with small pinholes; good overall. An appealing promotional card reproducing Edward J. Kelty's 1927 group portrait of the Christy Brothers Circus sideshow company with its African American musicians and dancers prominently represented. The musicians stand across the foreground with their instruments flanked by large bass drums while women in stage costume occupy the row behind. Painted banners advertise the "Museum of Christy Living Curiosities" and "Big Double Annex." The caption identifies the sideshow's manager as H. Emgard. Kelty operated under the name Century Photographers in New York and traveled to circuses with a mobile studio and darkroom. He photographed performers and working crews developed the images on site and sold prints to circus personnel. The present card is a smaller printed reproduction of one of these group portraits. unknown books
1905réf. List01132Chihuahua 1905. Albumen photographs most measuring 4 x 6 and smaller. Photographs faded and with wear some stray marks and scuffs to versos good condition overall. Good. We find scant information about Circo Perez a traveling circus in Chihuahua at the turn of the century. The circus was directed by Praxedis Perez and appeared to be largely a family affair. The present collection includes three overtly circus-related cabinet cards: an outdoor scene of the circus tent with a crowd of spectators looking at the camera the verso bearing the note “Circus Perez Chihuahua 1898”; an advertisement for the troupe Compania Acrobatica de Variedades y Grandes Novedades with a portrait of the director Praxedis Perez; and a cabinet card portrait of a girl in costume. The other photographs appear to be a mix of gifts from grateful patrons and unidentified photographs likely family members. Two photographs relate to a Capitan Manuel Villordo both dated in Chihuahua in 1900 one showing the man on a horseback in military attire the other a gift from a Caciano Perez. Another photograph shows an older woman with two children beside her with the verso identifying her as Prudencia Perez. Overall an evocative if somewhat mysterious group worthy of further research for scholars of Mexican performance. unknown books
1878réf. 63754New York: James Reilley Printer and Engraver 12 14 & 16 Spruce Street New York 1878. Poster for the circus printed on both sides 65 x 22 cm. on a 74 x 26 cm. sheet. "Programme No. 1." Text in various sizes and styles of type bordered by small vignettes of animals and circus acts. Title on verso: "UNCEASING ENTHUSIASM! / VanAmburgh & Co's / NEW GREAT GOLDEN / Menagerie Circus & Colosseum / Manager for 32 consecutive years. Mr. Hyatt Frost / WORLD-WIDE IN REPUTATION!. / THOUSANDS FLOCK TO SEE IT. followed by eleven illustrations of featured animals including the Two Horned Rhinoceros the White Yak of Tartary the African Ostrich etc. plus acrobats trapeze artists and other performers. In the margin left blank to allow for adding the location of the show this copy is stamped in bold letters "Fryeburg: Sept. 6." A few shallow chips to margins one short closed tear extending slightly into the illustration of the kangaroo else a boldly printed wonderfully illustrated copy. Isaac VanAmburgh 1811-1865 born in Fishkill New York is considered one of the originators of dramatic and daring trained wild animal acts incorporating them into his traveling menageries. Known as "The Lion King" for his bold performances he was touring England and the Continent by 1834 entering cages with lions tigers and other big cats and occasionally putting his arm or his head into their mouths much to the delight of Queen Victoria and other royalty. His long-time manager Hyatt Frost penned a biographical sketch of VanAmburgh in 1872 calling him "the original beast conqueror- a pioneer in entering their dens. no man has been able to effect as marvellous feats or exercise such power of control over the brute creation." Frost continued to use the VanAmburgh name and to manage the show after VanAmburgh's death. Frost was also a partner with P.T. Barnum in the Barnum Museum on Broadway in New York City until two fires one in 1865 and another in 1868 closed it down at a great loss to both men. Frost thereafter traveled the country and Canada with a wagon show and later a railroad show though competing with larger circuses became increasingly difficult. By 1884 he gave up the work and auctioned off the remaining parts of the VanAmburgh menagerie. see his obituary in the Amenia Times Sept. 7 1895. This copy with the Fryeburg Maine stamp was likely printed in 1878 when Frost was in his 32nd year as manager. We found a different poster for the VanAmburgh menagerie dated 1885 which notes that Frost was then in his 39th year as manager helping to date this copy. OCLC lists one copy at the Connecticut State Library which gives the date as 1880. James Reilley, Printer and Engraver, 12, 14, & 16 Spruce Street, New York unknown books
1920réf. 157882N.p.: N.p. 1920. Vintage borderless photograph of Trixie the Wonder Dog a performing canine billed as "The Dog with the Mind of a Child." Annotations in manuscript pencil regarding cropping on the verso. The photograph shows Trixie posed on a carved wooden seat surrounded by props ostensibly used in her performances including a hoop several balls and a mock menu. 7.75 x 7.5 inches. Near Fine. N.p. unknown books
1950réf. 67941Litho in U.S.A. C S P Co 1950. Three full-color lithographic advertising posters for the circus each 26 x 21 inches each with a 7 ¼ x 21 inch extender tag affixed at the bottom all advertising the Thursday September 6 1951 one chipped with the loss of part of the numeral "6" appearance in Long Beach California "Afternoon and Night" "New Air Ventilated Tent" "20 Degrees Cooler than Ever Before." One of the posters features a ferocious leaping Tiger above a ferocious leaping Lion one shows a Hippopotamus surfacing through vegetation in his river and the third shows "Francis Braun Greatest Juggler in the World" practicing his art. All are framed in multi-color borders. With the defect noted a very good lot uncommon with the advertising tags to the same appearance still attached. For the three posters Litho in U.S.A., C S P Co unknown books
1895réf. 37701Leipzig: Verlagsbuchhandlung von J.J. Weber 1895. First Edition. With 135 illustrations many full page. x 2 150 pp. 1 vols. 4to. Original white cloth upper board pictorially stamped in gilt and polychrome silk endpapers. One small spot to lower board small book label to front pastedown else a crisp fine copy of this scarce and desirable work on circus athletes freaks and itinerant performers. First Edition. With 135 illustrations many full page. x 2 150 pp. 1 vols. 4to. Verlagsbuchhandlung von J.J. Weber unknown books
1886réf. 7262St. Louis: Great Western Printing Co. Show Printers and Engravers 1886. St. Louis: Great Western Printing Co. Show Printers and Engravers 1886. Two-sided herald 10.5" x 28" printed in black on yellow newsprint. Text on bottom of each side reads "Black on Yellow Car No. 1 Great Western Printing Co. Show Printers and Engravers St. Louis. No. 4" with "Binghamton Mon. May 10" stamped in blue at bottom of verso in the "Will exhibit at" blank. Illustrations and performance roster in two columns. Headline on recto fabulously reads "The World Ransacked for All Its Wonders." Illustrations feature the Grand Street Demonstration the Egyptian Bovalapus actually a water buffalo two from the Equestrian Organization assumed James Robinson in his famous somersault and Emma Stokes wife of show proprietor John B. Doris "Old Betts" the War-Elephant a Troupe of Turkish Athletes another of Bicycle Riders Siberian Roller Skaters knife-thrower Riffia Bey and reptile-queen Katamorpa. Text roster adds everything from Human Blood-Sucking Vampires to a Menagerie of Infant Animals. The show carried a robust equestrian lineup including the aforementioned Robinson who was only the second person to execute a bareback somersault and at the height of his career was the highest paid equestrian in the United States. Another notable performance was the seven-person clown troupe led by Johnny Patterson the Irish humorist and songwriter best known for his song "The Garden Where the Praties Grow." In the show's route diary for this year compiler and Superintendent of the Confectionery Department E.C. White writes that the 1886 run was "one of the most successful seasons Financially and Professionally ever known.Notwithstanding the strong opposition experienced at the commencement and close of the season." On May 8th for the stop in Elmira NY just preceding this poster's show in Binghamton the diary notes "First day of the Forepaugh opposition." From there the rival Adam Forepaugh Circus & Wild West Show began to follow the Doris route a few days behind but sending their tack-spitters ahead to put up adverts for their own show before Doris's arrival in town. The Binghamton stand was 135 miles down the Lake Erie and Western Railroad and the opposition brigade had already gotten there. The diary entry for the date on this herald notes "Forepaugh bills us heavy here" but despite the opposition advertising and an amount of rain goes on to say "business good." Forepaugh would set up in Binghamton four days later on the 14th. The route diary as an aside descends into an almost Sisyphean resignation as this goes on simply writing "Forepaugh" or "Forepaugh again" entry after entry until on June 25th offers the existential almost-haiku "We ferry here. Forepaugh is billed here. Rain all day." In keeping with classic origin stories John B. Doris ran away at fourteen and joined the Dan Rice Circus. He soon bought privileges on the Rice show along with George Batcheller and soon the two split off to start Batcheller & Doris' Great Inter Ocean Circus. Doris bought out his partner in 1881 and continued as the sole proprietor until 1888 when heavyweight boxer John L. Sullivan became a partner. Sullivan one of the first true sports celebrities was meant to engage in a sparring exhibition each night but missed so many shows due to his excessive drinking that Doris closed the show mid-season and retired from traveling to work in theater production. Doris seems to have been well-liked by other circus folk earning the nickname Hunky Doris. Herald is in excellent condition overall with a shallow half-inch chip at bottom and a couple tiny chips and tears in margins along edges along with a few small pinholes to surface none involving or interfering with text. Flattened remnant of a horizontal crease at center. A couple smudged thumbprints to top margin on recto. Print is clean and color even. Great Western Printing Co., Show Printers and Engravers unknown books
1950réf. WAS449806 sheet lithographic poster measuring 80 x 84 inches small area of image loss at lower middle of image some chips and tears at edges. Blank section at top left edge was intended for the inclusion of the name and location of a particular event. This poster was acquired by a collector from the Majestic Poster Press of Los Angeles in the early 1970s. At the time the company held inventory of unused posters printed by other presses as well as their own. Large multi-sheet posters are quite scarce today. Alles Printing Co books
1863réf. BB055Original carte-de-visite photographs of Charles Sherwood Stratton better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb" a dwarf who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum here photographed with his wife Lavinia Warren AUTOGRAPHED in Stratton's handwriting on verso "Genl Tom Thumb & Mrs Tom Thumb - 1863 August". The couple were married in February 1863 for which it is said President Lincoln hosted them with a reception at the White House. The 2nd picture of the Strattons in their wedding costumes also a picture of their best man and bridesmaid Commodore Nutt and Minnie Warren Lavinia's sister and the wedding party together all in especially fine condition with dark brown hues each having facsimile autographs on the verso by their subjects. In addition an 1865 photograph of "Gen. Tom Thumb Wife and Child" verso blank. Altogether 5 carte-de-visite original mounted photographs the first with imprint verso backboard of Charles D Fredericks & Co 587 Broadway New York then three "from photographic Negative by Matthew Brady" imprinted by E & H T Anthony 501 Broadway the last by J Hall junction York and Fulton Sts Brooklyn.Born in Bridgeport 1838 to parents who were of medium height Charles was a relatively large baby weighing 9 pounds 8 ounces 4.3 kg at birth. He developed and grew normally for the first six months of his life at which point he was 25 inches 64 cm tall and weighed 15 pounds 6.8 kg. Then he suddenly stopped growing. By late 1842 4 years old Stratton had grown only one inch additional though his body was proportionate and functional. The showman Phineas T. Barnum heard about Stratton and after making arrangements with his parents taught the boy how to sing dance mime and impersonate famous people. He toured America and Europe in 1845 during which time his performances marked a turning point in the history of freak show entertainment. Prior to Stratton's debut the presentation of "human curiosities" for the purpose of entertainment was deemed dishonorable and seen as an unpleasing carnival attraction. However after viewers were introduced to Stratton and performances he was able to change the perception people held toward freak shows. Stratton's lively entertainments made these types of carnival shows one of the most favored forms of theatre in the United States.His marriage to Lavinia Warren also a little person became front-page news. The wedding took place at Grace Episcopal Church and the wedding reception was held at New York City's Metropolitan Hotel. The couple stood atop a grand piano at the reception to greet some 10000 guests. Rare to find a vintage picture of the couple dated and inscribed so early in their marriage and nice companion images inscriptions on three other pictures are in facsimile handwriting.TOGETHER WITH:BLEEKER Sylvester: Gen Tom Thumb's Three Yers' Tour Around the World accompanied by His Wife – Lavinia Warren Stratton Commodore Nutt Miss Minnie Warren and Party.New York: S. Booth 1872. Woodcut illustrations.8vo. 144 pp.; original printed pictorial orange wrappers overlayed with decorative cloth including spine. books
1875réf. 57736Indianapolis IN: Indianapolis Journal Print 1875. First edition . Illustrated advertising broadsheet 28 1/2 x 10 5/8 inches employing a large number of sizes and styles of type including nice display types. The show traveled via its own fleet of 42 railroad cars "Mr. H. Barnum with years of experience catering to the tastes of lovers of amusement and artistic mechanism has put together a show with the sole view of eclipsing any and all heretofore attempts as to Splendor and Novelty." Howes' Great London Circus began its season in St. Louis Missouri according to the New York Clipper edition of March 11 1876; it was in New Orleans on November 20 1875. An ad in the Little Rock Arkansas Gazette gave a December 1 1875 date for its appearance in that city and noted that the circus would be appearing in "all the principal cities of Texas" beginning in that month. Henry Barnum ca. 1826-1902 was a showman and manager for several circuses during his career; in 1873 he purchased an interest in Howes' Great London Circus along with James E. Kelley. Lavish production low attendance and rail costs contributed to the demise of this circus at the end of the 1876 season being subsequently sold to Cooper & Bailey who continued to employ Barnum. Apparently not recorded on OCLC. Despite the defects a nice exhibition display broadsheet. Creased from folding some old staining to margins some short tears repaired with cello-tape two in margins one along a fold affecting several words printer's inking defect affecting the first two letters in the headline word "Howes". #6169. Indianapolis Journal Print unknown books
