The Circus Poster Collection : Barnum in the late 1800s
Title:
The grand united Barnum and London double brigade brass & reed band
Scope & Content:
A conductor wearing a tall black hat and blue and white traditional, colonial era clothing holds a gold colored baton and leads a band of younger, male musicians along a city street. Men and women wave flags and watch the musicians from open windows in the surrounding buildings. A dog barks at the band, front right. The text below states that "a full juvenile fife and drum corps in the appropriate costume of our forefathers" will appear in the "Princely Street March" every day.

This poster is one of many fine examples of circus posters printed by the Strobridge Lithograph Company of Cincinnati in the early 1880s when American entrepreneur and cultural icon P.T. Barnum first negotiated the merger of his circus to form "P.T. Barnum's and Great London Combined."
Extent of Description:
ca. 24 1/2" x 31"
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Image