Thursday, August 14, 2008

Barnum & Bailey European Post Cards #1


Scan10589, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

The Barnum & Bailey 5 year tour included: 1898-99 in Great Britain, 1900 in Germany, 1901 in Austro-Hungary and France in 1902.


Whether these souvenir post cards bore the language of the country being played, I couldn't say.
The numbers in the lower right corner indicate that this set is far from complete. Maybe more will turn up if I continue to rummage around.
Buckles

Posted by Buckles at 8/14/2008 06:40:00 AM

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nachdruck verboten: "Reproduction forbidden.!"

14 August, 2008 11:36
Raffaele De Ritis said...

This is the first european series, printed in 1901 for the German and Austrian tour. It is a series of 12 in total, and exist only in German.
In 1902, for France and Belgium, a different series of 10 was printed, this time with photographs of the circus and the main acts.

14 August, 2008 14:19
Anonymous said...

To Anonymous. It's not a big deal.

14 August, 2008 15:56
Anonymous said...

It's not a big deal unless it's owned by Feld Entertainment, the eventual successor to the issuer of these cards, Barnum & Bailey, Ltd. Issue a commercial item today using a copyrighted or trademarked title and you'll learn the meaning of "The Empire Strikes Back."

14 August, 2008 19:37
Anonymous said...

Steve,
How many of these post cards do you think that there are in the various series?
Bob Kitto

14 August, 2008 19:38
Anonymous said...

To raffaele de ritis-
The series of photo cards (10 per set) were sold in black/white and haind tinted in color. There was also a set of at least 10 cards that were of acts put look like watercolor paintings. Circus World Museum has a number of those in their holdings.
Flint

14 August, 2008 21:29
Raffaele De Ritis said...

To Richard Flint:
correct, the series of 10 I believe came in 3 versions: black and white, and two different hand tints (yellow-like and blue-like). They had an immense diffusion. In France you still regularly find some of them at the various postcard collector flea markets. Each of them is generally valued around 15-20 Euros.
Another French series exists (i think of 5) of artist's impression in colour about the show, but very rare to find.

Far more difficult is to find the German painted ones posted here by Buckles. Some have been reproduced recently for souvenir sales in large size, I've seen some at Sarasota museum.

15 August, 2008 03:19
Anonymous said...

Hi Buckles,

The Ringling Museum has the original watercolor artwork for this series of postcards. We would be happy to send you the images of the other 3 cards, but need the appropriate email address to send them to.

Many thanks,
Jennifer Posey
Assistant Curator of the Circus Museum

15 August, 2008 17:02
Buckles said...

Mz Posey, Thanks for your kind consideration.
bucklesw@tampabay.rr.com

Buckles

15 August, 2008 17:33
Anonymous said...

For Jennifer Posey,
I believe the original artwork came with the Clarence Dean collection that arrived in the early 1970s. Dean was on the press staff. I remember seeing the material when it arrived but is there any material that addresses the cards' creation, etc.? Many thanks.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

15 August, 2008 18:39

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)