157 résultats
193221628New York: Macmillan Company 1932. First edition. Illustrated. 1 vols. 8vo. Original tan illustrated cloth original illustrated dust jacket. Some rubbing and fraying of extremities of cloth short tears along edges of jacket inner hinges separated library stamps and card else a very good copy. First edition. Illustrated. 1 vols. 8vo. Inscribed on the front free endpaper "For the members of the Boys Club of New York in the fond hope they may enjoy reading this partial record of my happy past. 'Uncle ' Bob Sherwood Last of Barnum's Clowns. New York City 1934". Macmillan Company unknown
4c1719Printed in Germany um 1955. 18 Aufstellfiguren nebst Kulisse 58 cm x 1750 cm Kulisse mit Abriß u. berieben. unknown
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
1863BB055Original 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.
a79305Paris 1960-1966 Club du Cirque. 26 consecutive separate issues of this circus magazine. In French. 4to. about 32pp. per issue monochrome photo illustrations original wraps. VG plus. Excellent condition. . paperback
1951E8576New York: American Broadcasting Company 1951. First edition. Softcover. Near Fine. First edition. Quarto sized volume in spiral bound illustrated softcovers. 64pp. Illustrated throughout with vintage photographs and red and black drawings. Promotional book issued by the ABC television network to promote "Super Circus" which aired from 1949 through 1956 on Sunday afternoons. Claude Kirshner was the ringmaster and leggy Miss Mary Hartline his assistant on this program that offered all manner of circus acts. A bright near fine example small corner crease front cover. Rather scarce. <br/><br/> American Broadcasting Company paperback
17096585London: 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
1938325170New 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
193120512New York: Farrar & Rinehart 1931. Frontispiece and numerous illustrations from photographs. 8vo. Original orange cloth. Binding soiled some light soiling of a few pages else a very good copy. Frontispiece and numerous illustrations from photographs. 8vo. Inscribed on the free endpaper "Four Circus Guys are better any day than Four Hawaiians-So step Closah-h-h Friends! This book is inscribed by Courtney Ryley Cooper world's imfamous clown and worse writer to Eddie Nemo world's infamouser laugh eradicator thence to Leonard Traube late very late of the Great European Circursions and finally to the only good guy in andon the lot=Joe Cook. Rain and Shine Boys! Two count 'em Two performances daily so Hold yo' Hosses the Elephants are Coming-g-g! " Captain Dutch Ricardo Alfredo Codona the Wallenda family Lillian Leitzel among other circus names are quoted described and in some case biographical information supplied. Inscribed. <br/><br/> Farrar & Rinehart hardcover
194571731N.P.: N.p. ca. 1945. Handmade photograph album bearing 10 original photographs. Eight are of circus wagons built by Jack Haines and two are photographs of Jack Haines; the first portraying him at the entrance to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Show and the second shows him sitting near the large circus wagon used in the show of 1937. Jack Haines was a clown for the circus but apparently he was also involved in the construction of circus wagons. The remaining eight photographs taken by Haines to display his newest creations are all of circus wagons that Jack built in the early 1940s; Baggage Wagon Band Wagon and Stringer Wagon. All the photographs are 6 x 4 inches. Jack also constructed the actual album using two pieces of wood both with metal hinges and with deep linoleum letters and a linoleum sailboat affixed the front cover. The "N" in "SNAPS" is missing. Inscribed by Jack on the inner front cover - "Greetings from Jack Haines to Olivia Kline." N.p. unknown
189537701Leipzig: 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
1862165540Munich.: Deschler's Book Brotherhood. 1862. Circus Suhr & Huttermann Poster: Circus Suhr & Hüttemann verbunden mit Theater. Heute Samstag den 2. August 1862: grosse ausserordentliche Vorstellung in der höheren Reitkunst noch nie gesehen Gymnastik und Vorführung der ausgezeichnetsten Schulpferde. Zum Zweitenmale. Black and white poster with engraving. One-sheet. Leaf size: 43.5 x 23.5cm. Top edge slightly browned and small piece 8 x 1cm missing from lower left hand corner An extraordinary presentation in the Higher art of horsemanship never before seen gymnastics and demonstrations of excellent equestrian arts. The extensive program included - two Chinese - August and Henry executing their brave and bold display. . Deschler's Book Brotherhood unknown
1827D6FA25RBPUPBAustria 1827. Oblong folio ca. 40 x 46 cm. With a large woodcut illustration ca. 27 x 38 cm. The text is set in a Gothic type. 1 l. Very attractive early 19th-century broadside with a beautiful large woodcut of a spectacular medieval show enlivened with fireworks. The text below announces the show of a gymnastics circus company under the direction of Bartholomäus Ramini dates unknown. According to the playbill the show consisted of four parts: an acrobatic performance by a four-year old; a horse dressage by "lustige Kaspar"; an acrobatic act with among others balancing and a human pyramid; and a play of "Otto der Stählerne im Kampfe mit dem rothen Feuerriesen und die Befreiung der Prinzessin Clotilde" translation: Otto the man of steel fighting with the red fire giant and the liberation of Princess Clothilde which included fireworks. This last part of the performance has also been mentioned as part of another circus show which was held at Prague in June 1827 under the direction of a citizen of Prague named "Beranek" Journal für Kunst Literatur und geselliges Leben. The present broadside most likely announces the same theatre or circus company now performing in a different location.The work has been folded in the past. Otherwise in very good condition.l Cf. Journal für Kunst Literatur und geselliges Leben nr. 74 21 June 1827 p. 592. hardcover
194347202Dallas TX: Harben-Spotts Co. Inc. 1943. 8vo. 160 pp. Photo frontisp. numerous illustrations. Green cloth black lettering slight scuffing front cover w/ d.j. minor toning to spine slight dustsoiling VG/VG- copy. First edition of this informative biography of the famed Circus Queen who with her husband formed the Bailey Family Troupe served as a spy for Generals John Bell Hood and Jubal Early during the Civil War and later organized the Bailey Circus which played all over Texas. Scarce in dustjacket. Harben-Spotts Co., Inc., hardcover
193162105New York: Brewer Warren & Putnam Inc. 1931. 8vo. 183 1 pp. Photo frontisp. numerous photo plates. Dark blue publisher’s cloth lettering in black photo-illustrated endpapers minor scuffing edgewear w/ d.j. cover art photo of Betty Boyd Bell w/ circus elephant chipping & tear to head of spine corner still VG-/G- copy. First edition of this surprisingly scarce circus memoir ghost-written for 11-year-old Betty Boyd Bell 1920-1978 by Janet Mabie who at the time was a staff writer for Putnam’s and also preparing Amelia Earhart’s “Last Flight†from her in-flight notes. Bell’s father Floyd Bell was the publicity director for Ringling Bros. Circus and the young girl prepared scrapbooks took photos wrote down her short notes and even met President Calvin Coolidge during her Circus adventures. Betty herself would later dabble in radio spots after attending Choate and LaSalle Junior College working in public relations where she met and married Craig Barry in 1944 marketing analyst for General Electric. Scarce in original dustjacket. Brewer, Warren & Putnam, Inc., hardcover
191253602New York: H.N. Tiemann Co. 4 East 30th St. March 1912. One silver gelatin photo. 7.5 x 8.5 in. w/ embossed photographer’s stamp at lower left corner pencil annotations on verso of photo 1 corner w/ very slight loss still VG image with bright strong contrast. This image depicts the famed Renaissance Revival structure based on the Moorish Giralda Tower in Spain at Fifth & Madison Ave. in March 1912. Designed by Stanford White for McKim Mead & White this historic venue included the largest amphitheater in America equipped with a tank for aquatic shows a rooftop theatre cabaret restaurant and concert hall. The Cleopatra spectacle featured 1500 performers including the African-American minstrel troop organized by James Wolfscale featuring his three sons and the rest of the musicians mounted on camels playing their instruments. The show which ran from March 23 - April 22 1912 is perhaps best remembered for the widely reported suffrage rally held by 75 women circus performers of the world’s first “Circus Suffrage Society†and notably snubbed by the socialite Suffrage Movement leaders including Harriet Stanton Blatch. Led by Josie De Mott a bareback trick rider acrobat Zella Florence and included women animal trainers wire walkers hand balancers dancers acrobats and the renowned female Hercules -- Katie Sandwina. This Madison Square Garden was demolished in 1924 after the New York Life Insurance Co. which held the mortgage built their landmark Cass Gilbert-designed New York Life Building and another Madison Square Garden venue was opened on 8th Ave. between 49th and 50th. See: Guide to the H.N. Tiemann & Co. Photograph Collection 1880-1916 New York Historical Society 2013; Abbot & Seroff Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows pp. 166-169; Circus Activism: Barnum’s Female Stars Demand Right To Vote Name Baby Giraffe ‘Miss Suffrage’ at Madison Square Garden Bowery Bows 2012. H.N. Tiemann Co., [4 East 30th St.], unknown
19311387Milano: Rizzoli & Co. 1931. Good. 19-1/2" x 14. 8 pp. Cream paper printed in black burnt orange and blue with color lithographed illustrations throughout. Center fold line and lighter vertical crease; light foxing to outer pages; several nicks and occasional minor loss to margins; long tear to head of last leaf progressively shorter in successive leaves; few other tears minimally affecting text on last page; some splitting to folds. Large promotional newspaper/program for this travelling German circus in Italy only from 1931-32. The circus featured "la sua grandiosa pantomima acqua" a grand water pantomime in which the ring was flooded with 500000 litres of water with fountains "whose splashes touch the top of the tent jets of water illuminated by reflectors with the force of 2000000 candles luminous waterfalls a thousand water games complete with the entire artistic staff with actors singers and international dance beauties" our translation."In the late 1920s Jakob Busch made his mark as one of the first circus directors to adapt water spectaculars popularized by Paula Busch in her Berlin circus to an itinerant big top and to bring to his traveling show under the artistic direction of Alfred Delbosq the hitherto purely urban concept of the revuereplete with chorus line singers and theatrical tableaux. Using equipment especially designed for his traveling circus Jakob Busch dedicated the full second half of his shows to carefully dramatized water pantomimes for which the ring was completely flooded. Their themes ranged from oriental tales to Venetian feasts and even to an elaborate six-part spy story From the Equator to the Pole which included all sorts of exotic animals and a polar tableau with penguins sea lions and a couple of ice skaters. . Circus Busch performed regularly in neighboring Czechoslovakia and Austria and even became popular in Italy which it visited in 1931 and 1932 due to the close ties between the Fascist and Nazi regimes" circopedia.org/Jakob_Busch.This program is from the circus's premier in Carrara on Friday January 29th.Apparently unrecorded. We find no holdings in OCLC Copac or KVK. [Rizzoli & Co.] unknown
194653518Kewanee IL: Bob Parkinson Box 42 ca. 1946. Tall 8vo. 7.25 x 11.25 in. 24 pp unpaginated. thick cardstock w/ die-cut window slots for photos framed in green paper w/ 47 photos inserted sized from 3.25 x 4.75 in up to 4 x 5 in. a few mounted some w/ stamps on versos a few w/ pencil annotations some tipped-in a few mounted on sheets and inserted typed price list and ordering instructions on front pastedown listing many of the photos. Green linen white lettering stamped on front cover slightly shaken some rubbing edgewear still VG exemplar. Very rare photo sample catalogue assembled probably in the 1940s by Bob Parkinson noted circus collector and former director of the Circus World Museum Library and Research Center. The typed price list details the sets of images for sale such as the four photos from glass plate negatives of the Forepaugh Sells Bros. 1898 parade including images of steam calliope and 4 horse team bandwagon and 20 horse team elephant line-up followed by 2 blocks of close order units and more. In addition there are many images of 1908 and 1910 Ringling Bros. circus parades including views of the “Swan†Bandwagon and entire 24 horse team “Persia†tableau and 24 pony team side view “Egypt†tableau with the 16 camel team the entire elephant line-up riders and more. In addition there are added photos of wagons from the Al G. Barnes Circus Cole Bros. Circus later absorbed by Bailey and then Ringling Bros. as well as 101 Ranch Wild West Shows later circus parades in the 1920s the unloading of circus wagons off the Wisconsin Central Railroad flatbed cars loading docks and more. Parkinson explains that his sets for sale from $ 1.35 to $ 6.00 for all of them are taken directly from original glass plate negatives and that he is not charging much more than the printing costs and only trying to recoup his original considerable expense in purchasing the original negatives. Parkinson 1923-1991 began collecting as early as 1936 when he purchased his first Ringling-Barnum Bros. program and followed every circus show within striking distance of Decatur IL. After starting work as an insurance adjustor in 1946 he continued to chase buy & occasionally sell Circus related material assembling a massive collection of field show newspaper ads and was hired as the director of the Circus World Museum Library and Research Center in Baraboo WI from 1965 until his death. It was renamed the Robert L. Parkinson Library & Research Center the same year. Bob Parkinson, Box 42, unknown
19367028Self Published 1936. First edition. 12mo 164pp. Photographs. Blue cloth boards stamped in gilt. Spine cocked endpapers toned else very good. <br /> <br /> . Self Published unknown
187017145Colchester England: Oldham & Angle Photographers 1870. Photography. Very good overall. Carte de visite showing the Australian General Tom Thumb aka John David Armstrong who made his debut in Melbourne in 1870 and performed world wide. An uncommon image with Tom Thumb standing next to an ornately carved chair and dresser dressed in coat and tails and holding a sheaf of papers. The visit of the American Charles Stratton "Tom Thumb" and his wife Lavinia to Australia in the late 1860s as part of the PT Barnum round the world tour resulted in a huge fascination with little people worldwide. With the title below the photograph. Text on the verso: "this photograph is from the studio of G. A. Graham 8 Mersea Road. With photographers imprint: Oldham & Angle Photographers 11 Queen St. & 8 Mersea Rd. Colchester". Below the stamp: "The higher class photographs only taken by Sydney B. Angle 11 Queen St.". 2 1/2 x 4". Slt faded. Oldham & Angle Photographers unknown
188925869Cincinnati: Dillon 1889. Very good overall. An albumen photograph of a trapeze artist possibly H.Huston Ludlum a muscular young man wearing full length leg covering and shorts and short sleeve shirt holding a horizontal trapeze bar attached to a multitude of balloon cords in front of a painted backdrop. <br /> Dillon Cor 8th & Race Sts Cincinnati below photograph. Verso has a fully illustrated trade card for Dillon's Imperial Photo Gallery with an illustrated building advertising S.W. Dillon and a Garfield monument out front. "Elegant Portraits made from small pictures in india ink water colors crayon and pastels.'<br /> <br /> 4 1/4 x 6 1/4" Albuman photo on a printed cabinet card corners and edges rubbed one pinhole bottom center. Dillon unknown
1920157882N.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. <br /> <br /> 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. <br /> <br /> 7.75 x 7.5 inches. Near Fine. N.p. unknown
187536453n.p. 1875. Carte de Visite format 2-1/2" x 4" albumen print on card mount: Photographic portrait of John McGuire a dwarf dressed in the usual fancy suit and top hat popular with dwarf performers at the time. No printed caption or imprint appears. A pencil notation beneath the photo "Coll. Mcguire." Minor dust. Very Good. <br /> <br /> Col. John McGuire a dwarf perfomer has been the subject of a only handful of carte-de-visites from what our research showed. There is one example very similar to ours held in the Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs at Syracuse University and dated about 1875. unknown
18482312New York: Cameron's Steam Presses 1848. About Good. 23 x 9 inches. Broadside. Yellow stock printed in black with specifics about the location date and price of admission written in red pencil in the appropriate locations and to the upper margin. Worn and creased; loss to upper margin affecting legibility of the name of the hotel possibly "Vermont Hotel" where the circus was held; chipping and marginal loss to left side; faint dampstaining. Promotional broadside for a circus held in Wells NY on October 6 1848. The circus featured a "Juvenile Artist" named Jerome Hobbs noted here as "the Young American Necromantic performer Contortionist and Hercules" whose act included "tying himself in a bow not sic" throwing iron balls into the air balancing weights on the back of his neck and something simply called "Golden Showers". Also featured are the Swiss Brothers who performed "upwards of Thirty different Tableaux taken from some of the most famous models of Ancient History" and a "negro extravaganza" most likely a minstrel show rather than a performance by African Americans.Not located in OCLC. Cameron's Steam Presses unknown
193656663Bristol: Arrowsmith 1936. 8vo. 144 pp. Photo frontisp. numerous photo plates text illusts. Orange cloth black lettering w/ d.j. cover art photo of author lettering & decoration in black & orange minor darkening to spine slight shelfwear NF/NF copy. First edition of this famed memoir by the circus promoter and founder of the Zoo Park at Maidstone at one time one of the largest privately owned collections of exotic animals in Britain. He supplied animals to theatres pageants films circuses and more and was a major benefactor to Maidstone establishing the Tyrwhitt-Drake Mseum of Carriages. Arrowsmith, hardcover
