DESIGNER UNKNOWN W.F. CODY / BUFFALO BILL. Circa 1905.
39 1/4x29 3/4 inches, 99 3/4x75 1/2 cm. Weiners Ch. Wall, Paris.
Condition A-: repaired tears at edges, some affecting image; light staining in margins.
A rare poster comprised of scenes from Cody's life, which previously appeared on two earlier Buffalo Bill posters, primarily Scenes in the Life of Col. W. F. Cody, 1895, and also three vignettes from Chief of Scouts and Guide for U.S. Army, circa 1888 (see Buffalo Bill p. 37 and p. 53). The 1895 poster, which was a horizontal format without a central bust image of Cody, features small, full-color scenes of Cody, as well as the busts of four U.S. Presidents: Grant, Arthur, Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. Appearing on this French poster is the bust of just one President, William McKinley, elected in 1897. There are also two small vignettes that do not appear on either of the earlier posters; one for Cody Day at the Omaha Exposition (which was inaugurated in 1898), and an image of Bill's first cabin. There exists an English variation of this poster, printed by the Enquirer Litho. Company in Cincinnati, dated 1899. Buffalo Bill toured France twice during his lengthy career; the first time in 1889, and the second and final time in 1905.