?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,000
DESIGNER UNKNOWN BARNUM & BAILEY / EXCURSIONS. 1891. 40x30 inches, 101 1/2x76 cm. The Strobridge Lith. Co., Cincinnati. Condition B+ / A-: repaired tears and minor restoration in margins; minor restoration along unobtrusive horizontal fold. "The railroad circus enjoyed an unusual collaborative relationship with the host systems over which it traveled during the summer season . . . overland circuses had already grown so large in the mid - to late 1860s that the 20 - to 30 - mile moves between communities placed them in villages and towns whose populations could not fill the tents. To assure adequate revenues, some circuses collaborated with the local railroads to operate special excursion trains on Circus Day - conveyances that would bring hundreds, if not thousands, of hinterland residents to fill the seats . . . Excursion train operations endured into the 1920s, when public transportation and private autos alone were adequate to transport the audience to the circus" (Circus Poster p. 128).
The circus literally brought the world to America's doorstep. With its elaborate spectacles and exotic animals, a trip to the circus was indeed something of a trip around the world. Barnum, already noted as the World's Greatest Showman, clearly had no problem touting his circus as "A World's Fair of marvels" and appears to have coined budget travel's future raison d'etre, that a trip to the circus was "A Holiday Created for all Classes at Little Cost."
It is impossible to say whether or not his image was designed after an existing travel poster. However, in the years following this poster, ocean liner companies began employing the identical conceit in their posters, using globes with vignettes in each corner of the image as a means for advertising their services.
Barnum passed away on April 7th, 1891, so it is unclear whether or not he ever saw this poster, it is certain that the impresario would have been pleased to know that the design became an archetypal model for a whole generation of travel posters. Circus Poster 18.
