Beschreibung:

Lot of 155 photographs, ca 1910s-1940s, ranging in size from 2.5 x 1.75 in to 10 x 8 in., featuring an array of circus subjects including performers, workers, animals, grounds, train cars, structures, and parades. Many photographs include signatures and other handwritten inscriptions, captions written in the negative, and/or stamps on verso. Circuses represented include the Sells-Floto Circus, Al G. Barnes Circus, Sparks Circus, Gentry Brothers Circus, Gainesville Community Circus, Cole Brothers Circus, Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, and others. Highlights from the collection include an 8 x 10 in. photograph featuring a woman appearing to swallow a leather belt, with verso inscription reading, "Miss Helen Leach. / 'The Original Iron Jaw Butterly,'" and embossed credit to C. I. Hak, Chicago, IL at lower right; a 3 x 5 in. photograph featuring an African American man and a white man, with caption written in the negative reading, "'Wm Curtis - Blackie Williams' / 'Canvas' 'Props' / Sells-Floto Circus. 1927;" a 3.25 x 5 in. photograph of a woman riding a large bear; a 5.75 x 3.5 in. photograph of a woman in uniform standing on the head of an elephant, with two other elephants seated upright on either side and a trainer standing off to the right; a 9.25 x 5.75 in. composite photograph featuring acts and figures related to the Al G. Barnes Circus and its 1935 season; and a composite photograph featuring scenes that appear to be from the Gainesville Community Circus's "Circus Fans Convention" of 1952, with Arthur Thomas, Charleston, WV copyright stamp on verso. Condition: Photographs in varying conditions. Some with heavy toning, others with wear and brittleness at edges, and at least one image fully separated along horizontal crease.