Grosvenor Prints

[Lion with lion-tamer performing on stage; from Aesop's Fables.]
[London, for J. Ogilby, 1668(?)]
Etching on laid paper, illustrating 'Androcleus: or, the Roman slave'. Image 250 x 190mm, 9¾ x 7½". Lacking margins.
The lion performing on a raised platform encouraged by his trainer with a whip; also on stage a goat and a lamb, on the back of which the lion rests his right forepaw. An impressed crowd standing below in the foreground, watching; landscape seen through an opening at right. The story is included in 'Æsopics: or, a second collection of fables ... By John Ogilby'.
See BL 1872.a.12.(2.) 82.l.5.(2.).
[Ref: 23484] £120.00 (£144.00 incl.VAT)

Astley's Amphitheatre.
Pugin & Rowlandson del. et Sculpt. Hill, Aquat.
London. Pub Jany 1, 1808 at R. Ackermann’s Repository of Arts 101, Strand.
Hand coloured aquatint with large margins. Platemark: 240 x 285mm (9½ x 11¼").
An interior view of Astley's Amphitheatre at Westminster Bridge Road, as rebuilt in 1803 after one of several fires in its history. The scene shows a performance in progress. A man is balancing on the backs of three horses and the ring master is dressed as a clown. Published in Ackermann's famous work, the 'Microcosm of London', the figures were drawn by the famous caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson and the architecture by Augustus Pugin.
Abbey, Scenery: 212.
[Ref: 34071] £220.00 (£264.00 incl.VAT)

Blondin's Gigantic Arena. Dimensions. Length of Fence 400 English feet. Width of Fence 800 English Feet. Height of Fence 8 English Feet. Length of Tent 250 English Feet. Width of Tent 200 English Feet. Height of Tent 50 English Feet. [Accompanying Sheet]: Explanations of further measurements and details of erecting the tent.
[n.d. c.1860.]
Very scarce lithograph 265 x 420mm (10½ x 16½"), and etched sheet folded in half 280 x 256mm (11 x 10").
Jean François Gravelet Blondin (1824-1897) was a French tight-rope walker and acrobat. Blondin went to the United States in 1855 to perform with the Ravel troupe in New York City. It was in 1861 that Blondin first appeared in London, at the Crystal Palace. His success continued with a series of performance at the Crystal Palace in 1862, and elsewhere in England, and on the continent. His final performance was in Belfast in 1896 and a year later he passed away in Ealing aged 72.
[Ref: 56068] £290.00 (£348.00 incl.VAT) view all images for this item

Blondin's Gigantic Arena. Dimensions. Length of Fence 400 English feet. Width of Fence 800 English Feet. Height of Fence 8 English Feet. Length of Tent 250 English Feet. Width of Tent 200 English Feet. Height of Tent 50 English Feet. [Accompanying Sheet]: Explanations of further measurements and details of erecting the tent.
[n.d. c.1860.]
Very scarce lithograph. Sheet size: 265 x 420mm (10½ x 16½"). Very slight central crease.
Jean François Gravelet Blondin (1824-1897) was a French tight-rope walker and acrobat. Blondin went to the United States in 1855 to perform with the Ravel troupe in New York City. It was in 1861 that Blondin first appeared in London, at the Crystal Palace. His success continued with a series of performance at the Crystal Palace in 1862, and elsewhere in England, and on the continent. His final performance was in Belfast in 1896 and a year later he passed away in Ealing aged 72.
[Ref: 40011] £220.00 (£264.00 incl.VAT)

Portraits of the Two Ladies form the Celestial Empire, and their Chinese Interpreter, as Exhibiting in Pall Mall. Drawn from the Life by M. Gauci.
Printed by Engelmann, Graf, Coindet & Co.
London Published by the Proprietor, Jan.y 1827.
A very fine, hand-coloured lithograph; J. Whatman 1826 watermark. Printed area: 190 x 280mm (7½ x 11"), mint with very large margins. Uncut. Margins dusty.
A portrait of the Chinese Ladies who were exhibited in Pall Mall in 1827, they wore Chinese costume and were noted for having fingernails which were 2" long and for their bound feet.
[Ref: 44919] £380.00

Circus Rehearsal.
Lewis H Fairbank.
1933.
Etching with large margins, signed in pencil. Plate 197 x 252mm (7¾ x 10").
Inside a circus arena, various people sitting around and preparing for the show; monkeys dressed up in little costumes holding parasols.
[Ref: 28989] £160.00 (£192.00 incl.VAT)

Cirque. 24 gravures au canif par Tilmans. Preface Par Maurice De Laborderie.
Editeur L'Imagerie Francaise Limoges 1946.
24 coloured limited-edition woodcuts, complete as index. Disbound, with titlepage and text sheets, in paper-covered card wrappers with lettered cover bearing vignette of three clown's faces. Presented in original printed card sleeve. Tear in cover paper lower left. Foxing to wrappers and title page, plates good. Outer sleeve scuffed and missing two short sides.
A collection of vibrant illustrations of circus acts, each captioned lower left and signed 'Tilmans' in pencil lower right. Stamped 'No 12', of an edition limited to 130. By Belgian artist Émile Henri Tilmans (1888 - 1960).
[Ref: 7715] £580.00 view all images for this item

Sports of a Country Fair. Teggs Caricatures No 40.
[Thomas Rowlandson.]
Pub.d October 5th 1810 by Thos Tegg No 111 Cheapside. Price One Shilling Coloured.
Coloured etching, early state with very fine colour. 250 x 355mm (9¾ x 14"). Trimmed within plate, laid on album paper.
Spectators flee from the upper storey of a burning theatre, landing in a heap at the bottom of some stairs. From a set of plates of similar disasters. Circus including tight rope walker in background.
BM Satires 11629. See Ref: 59288
[Ref: 59290] £350.00

Kings in Exile [pencil].
L.R. Brightwell. [pencil]
[n.d., c.1920.]
Drypoint etching. 135 x 380mm (5¼ x 15"), with wide margins.
Three circus elephants tethered in a field. Leonard Robert Brightwell (1889-1962) a prolific illustrator and etcher, predominately using animal themes. He also had cartoons published in Punch from the age of sixteen.
[Ref: 38926] £290.00 (£348.00 incl.VAT)

The Siamese Youths. (Aged 18.) As now Exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly.
Lithog. by W. Day, 17 Gate Str.t.
London, Pub.d by R. Ackermann & Co. 96 Strand, 1.st Dec.r 1829.
Lithograph. Sheet 255 x 170mm (10 x 6¾"). Laid on album paper with a photographic carte-à-visite and a news clipping.
Eng and Chang Bunker (1811-1874), the original 'Siamese Twins', conjoined at birth. When the boys were 17 they were exhibited in Europe and America by Scottish merchant Robert Hunter, and examined by doctors. In 1832 they realised that their new manager, Captain Coffin, was taking most of their profits, and made a separate arrangement with the circus owner Phineas T. Barnum. The visiting card, by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company, features a photograph of the twins as older men. It was probably taken on their trip to Britain in 1868-9, their first in 30 years.
[Ref: 64468] £360.00

New Waverley Hall Waterloo Place, Edinburgh. Positively the Last Days Closing on Saturday, Jan. 2. The World-Renowned Siamese Twins accompanied by Their Children! [...]
[n.d. c.1850.]
Letterpress playbill, sheet 190 x 125mm (7¾ x 5"). Slightly foxed, abrasions and nicks on edges.
A theatre bill for a show of conjoined twins Eng and Chang Bunker (1811-1874) at New Waverley Hall in Edinburg. When the boys were 17, they joined the Scottish merchant Robert Hunter, who managed a tour in which they displayed themselves, and were examined by doctors across the United States and Europe. In 1832 they realised that their new manager, Captain Coffin, was taking most of their profits, and made a separate arrangement with the circus owner Phineas T Barnum, with whom they toured until 1839.
[Ref: 59074] £280.00 (£336.00 incl.VAT)

The Siamese Twins Aged 18.
[n.d., c.1829.]
Fine hand-coloured etching, scarce. Plate: 180 x 190mm (7 x 7½"), with large margins. Some marking.
A portrait of conjoined twins Eng and Chang Bunker (1811-1874). When the boys were 17, they joined the Scottish merchant Robert Hunter, who managed a tour in which they displayed themselves, and were examined by doctors across the United States and Europe. In 1832 they realised that their new manager, Captain Coffin, was taking most of their profits, and made a separate arrangement with the circus owner Phineas T Barnum, with whom they toured until 1839.
[Ref: 44411] £260.00 (£312.00 incl.VAT)

Indian Jugglers.
W H Ekoorb [William Henry Brooke] del.t et sculp.t.
Satirist 1st August 1813.
Coloured etching. 200 x 365mm (8 x 14¼"). Trimmed top and left, folds as normal.
A performance of three Indians: one juggles rings on his hands and feet; another swallows a sword; the third has cups and balls, perhaps a 'Find the Ball' trickster.
BM Satires 12134.
[Ref: 56723] £160.00 (£192.00 incl.VAT)

The Wonderful Albino Family, Rudolph Lucasie, wife and children, from Madagascar. They have pure white skin, silken white hair and pink eyes!! Have been exhibited at Barnum’s Museum N.Y. for three years. Now with Buckey & Coup.
Currier & Ives, Lith. 152 Nassau S.t New York.
[n.d., c.1865.]
Coloured lithograph, size 390 x 290mm (15¼ x 11½"), with large margins.
A group portrait of an albino family: Rudolph Lucasie, with busy white hair and beard, wearing theatrical 'tribal' dress; his wife and daughter wearing western dresses; and his son, wearing skirt and tights, playing a violin. P. T. Barnum discovered the family in Amsterdam in 1857 and brought them to America to exhibit, billing them as Madagascans. They worked for him for three years, before joing another circus. They continued to tour the world until Rudulph and his wife died in 1898. The Caucasian features of the family in this print are confirmed by contemporay photographs.
[Ref: 63357] £580.00

[Anthony Maddox.] To long, unjust to our own country's cause, / On foreigners we wasted our applause, / On home-bred merit seldom known to smile, / Nor praise the product of our Native Isle. / But now each artist from abroad must yield, / And Mahomet to Maddox quits the field, / Who's form'd alike t'astonish & to please, / And adds to matchless skill a gracefull ease, / The sweetly smiling fair in crowds appear, / And love that art, they used to view with fear.
T. King Pinx.t. R. Houston Fecit.
Printed for & Sold by John Smith Map & Printseller at Hogarth's Head, in Cheapside, & Rob.t Sayer at the Golden Buck in Fleet Street, London.
Mezzotint. 355 x 250mm (14 x 9¾"). Small margins.
A three-quarter length portrait of the entertainer Anthony Maddox, wearing a rich suit with an emboidered waistcoat, holding a straw. Maddox was a successful slack-wire acrobat: his signature trick was standing on the wire and passing the straw from his foot to his mouth, accounting for its inclusion here. He drowned in 1758 when 'The Dublin Trader' was wrecked off the Scottish coast en route to Dublin, along with his travelling companion, actor Theophilus Cibber, and Edward, fifth Earl of Drogheda..
CS 75.
[Ref: 49848] £490.00

[Henri Martin] Hyder Ali or the Lions of Mysore. The Combat between Sadhuing and the Lion as Performed at Drury Lane Theatre.
[Printed by W. Clerk. 41 Dean S.t. Soho. n.d., c.1831.]
Rare lithograph. Sheet: 210 x 165mm (8¼ x 6½"). Trimmed.
An illustration of a scene from a play shown at Drury Lane Theatre in 1831 called 'Hyder Ali, or the Lions of Mysore' which incorporated scenes of animal taming by the first famous lion tamer Henri Martin (1793-1882). Martin played the title of role of Sadhusing, the son of Hyder Ali who escapes into the forest during a battle and befriends the lions. This scene shows Martin supposedly engaged in combat with his lion.
[Ref: 39440] £140.00 (£168.00 incl.VAT)

[Henri Martin] Hyder Ali or the Lions of Mysore.
Printed by W. Clerk. 41 Dean S.t. Soho. [n.d., c.1831.]
Lithograph. Sheet: 260 x 205mm (10¼ x 8"). Trimmed.
An illustration of a scene from a play shown at Drury Lane Theatre in 1831 called 'Hyder Ali, or the Lions of Mysore' which incorporated scenes of animal taming by the first famous lion tamer Henri Martin (1793-1882). Martin played the title of role of Sadhusing, the son of Hyder Ali who escapes into the forest during a battle and befriends the lions.
[Ref: 39441] £190.00 (£228.00 incl.VAT)

[Henri Martin] Hyder Ali, or the Lions of Mysore. Sadhusing sleeping on his Lion, as performed at Drury Lane Theatre.
[Printed by W. Clerk. 41 Dean S.t. Soho.]
[London: S. Gans, n.d., c.1831.]
Rare lithograph. Sheet: 210 x 165mm (8¼ x 6½"). Trimmed.
An illustration of a scene from a play shown at Drury Lane Theatre in 1831 called 'Hyder Ali, or the Lions of Mysore' which incorporated scenes of animal taming by the first famous lion tamer Henri Martin (1793-1882). Martin played the title of role of Sadhusing, the son of Hyder Ali who escapes into the forest during a battle and befriends the lions. This illustration shows the scene in which Martin amazed his audience by sleeping on the lion.
[Ref: 39438] £140.00 (£168.00 incl.VAT)

[Henri Martin] Hyder Ali, or the Lions of Mysore. Sadhusing extracating his Children from the Boa Constrictors, as performed at Drury Lane Theatre.
W. Clerk lith, 41 Dean Str Soho.
Published by S. Gans 15 Southampton Street, Covent Garden [n.d., c.1831].
Lithograph with fine hand colour. . Sheet: 160 x 185mm (6¼ x 7¼"). Trimmed, two tears in right edge. Tear in left edge.
A scene from 'Hyder Ali, or the Lions of Mysore', a play shown at Drury Lane Theatre in 1831 which incorporated scenes of animal taming by the first famous lion tamer Henri Martin (1793-1882). Martin played the title of role of Sadhusing, the son of Hyder Ali who escapes into the forest during a battle and befriends the lions. This scene shows Martin performing with Boa Constrictors which were made to appear as if they were attacking the small boys.
[Ref: 55511] £180.00 (£216.00 incl.VAT)

[Playbill.] Royal Living Marionette Theatre, Leicester Square, The Public are respectfully informed that in consequences of the numerous Audiences which have nightly visited this Theatre, to witness the Extraordinary Performances of the Buislay Brothers, The Proprietor is induced to extend their Engagement Six Night Longer, when they Positively Leave London. [...]
[1852.]
Letterpress playbill, sheet 195 x 130mm (7¾ x 5"). Tears and nicks on edges, one small wormhole.
A theatre bill for a trapeze artistes show at the Royal Living Marionette Theatre in Leicester Square.
[Ref: 59073] £280.00 (£336.00 incl.VAT)

The Royal Elephant Preserving the true Prince (Mr. Hemmings) from the Conspirators. Now performing with distinguished success at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi.
R.J.H. [in image.]
Pub.d by W. Kenneth, corner Bow Street, Covent Garden, London. G.E. Madeley, Lithog. Wellington St. Strand. [n.d. c.1829.]
Rare lithograph. 197 x 282mm (7¼ x 10½").
A depiction of the elephant from 'The Elephant of Siam and the Fire Fiend!', first produced at the Adelphi on Thursday 3 December 1829. The mid-Victorian period marked the height of the British public's fascination with Britain's colonies; hence, the introduction of elephants across the capital. Three elephants were brought to England in East India Company ships between 1809 and 1811.
[Ref: 52455] £230.00 (£276.00 incl.VAT)

The Royal Elephant at Dinner Now performing with distinguised success, at the Theatre Royal, Adelphi.
R.J. Hamerton [in image.]
Pub.d by W. Kenneth, corner Bow Street, Covent Garden, London. G.E. Madeley, Lithog. Wellington St. Strand. [n.d. c.1829.]
Rare lithograph. 214 x 280mm (8 x 10½"). Some creasing.
Three elephants were brought to England in East India Company ships between 1809 and 1811. The elephants were either exhibited at the Covent Garden Theatre or bought by circus owner Stephani Polito, where they joined his menagerie at Exeter Exchange on the Strand in London. The mid-Victorian period marked the height of the British public's fascination with Britain's colonies; hence, the introduction of elephants across the capital.
[Ref: 52456] £230.00 (£276.00 incl.VAT)

Charles S. Stratton as General Tom Thumb, in his Character as Napoleon, is 12 Years Old. 25 Inches High and Weighs 15 Pounds.
London J.T. Wood, 33, Holywell Str. Strand. [n.d. c.1850.]
Engraving on porcelain card. Sheet 150 x 115mm (6 x 4½").
Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838-1883), known on the stage as General Tom Thumb, was a dwarf who achieved great fame under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. His routines included impersonating characters such as Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as singing, dancing and comical banter.
[Ref: 48993] £65.00 (£78.00 incl.VAT)

Charles S. Stratton as General Tom Thumb, in his Character as Napoleon is 12 Years Old. 25 Inches High and Weighs 15 Pounds. Gen. Tom. Thumb.
London J.T. Wood, 33, Holywell Str. Strand. [n.d. c.1850.]
Engraving on porcelain card. Sheet 150 x 115mm (6 x 4½"). Bit messy, 'E.B.J.' in ms lower left.
Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838-1883), known on the stage as General Tom Thumb, was a dwarf who achieved great fame under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. His routines included impersonating characters such as Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as singing, dancing and comical banter.
[Ref: 37654] £140.00 (£168.00 incl.VAT)

Charles S. Stratton known as General Tom Thumb, the American in Miniature. [Facimile signature.] Born Jan.y 11th 1832. He is smaller than any infant that ever walked alone, is 25 inches in height and weeights only 15 Pounds!
Baugniet 1844. Baugniet lith. Day & Haghe Lith.rs to the Queen.
Scarce lithograph. Sheet 365 x 280mm (14½ x 11"). Creasing in text at bottom. Trimmed
A portrait of Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838-83), aged 14. Known as General Tom Thumb, he was a dwarf who achieved great fame under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. His routines included impersonating characters such as Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte, as well as singing, dancing and comical banter.
[Ref: 60364] £260.00 (£312.00 incl.VAT)

Cirque Ambulant [in pencil].
A Brouet [in pencil]
[n.d. c.1920]
Etching signed by the artist, Artist embossed stamp; 215 x 265mm (8½ x 10½"), with margins. Left bottom margin corner missing. Some light creasing in margins.
A woodland scene; members of the travelling circus relax next to their caravan. The son of poor parents, Auguste Brouet (1872 - 1941), worked his own way through night drawing classes, and then the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He lived in poverty as an art student, but became well known to collectors due to the sincerity of his portryals of the street-peddlers, gypsies, street-musicians, beggars, and rag pickers, whom he would depict in the passages and places where they congregated. He became enthralled by the singers, dancers, and circus life of Paris. Having lived the in the poverty of those he was portraying, Brouet's work conveys a sensitivity and sympathy for his subjects uncommon amongst his contemporaries. Not only is he acclaimed as one of Paris's most important etchers, he has also etched approximately 20 plates of World War I, acclaimed not only for their historical accuracy and reliabilty, but for intense artistic quality.
[Ref: 62605] £120.00 (£144.00 incl.VAT)

Mademoiselle Brownini in her graceful act of Equitation.
Pen and ink sketch. Sheet 185 x 265mm, 7¼ x 10½".
A woman standing on a horse's back in a circus ring, with a ringmaster and a clown nearby. On recto is another sketch of a scene of promenaders in a park.
[Ref: 15909] £320.00

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