Snapshots of the Past

[An animal keeper feeding raw meat to lions in a circus cage as spectators watch] – Antique Print

[An animal keeper feeding raw meat to lions in a circus cage as spectators watch], Detroit, Mich. : Calvert Litho. Co., c1891. — vintage poster
[An animal keeper feeding raw meat to lions in a circus cage as spectators watch], Detroit, Mich. : Calvert Litho. Co., c1891.. Vintage poster from the Circus & Carnival collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

This vintage poster of [An animal keeper feeding raw meat to lions in a circus cage as spectators watch] brings a moment of history to your wall. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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[An animal keeper feeding raw meat to lions in a circus cage as spectators watch]

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Here a keeper hands raw meat to lions inside a cage while spectators look on, a scene that set the act apart from the horse parades and acrobatics common on circus bills of the period. The poster was printed in Detroit around 1891 by the Calvert Lithographing Company, which produced large color posters for traveling shows when chromolithography was the main way to advertise a circus to small towns. Bold color and dramatic scenes like this one were meant to draw passersby off the street and into the tent, and the close-up feeding was a crowd favorite in its own right. The sheet is numbered 69 in the printer's catalog.

Created / publishedDetroit, Mich. : Calvert Litho. Co., c1891.
Medium1 print (poster) : chromolithograph, color ; 75 x 100 cm.
GenreCircus posters American 1890-1900.Chromolithographs Color 1890-1900.
NotesTitle devised by Library staff. Copyright by the Calvert Litho. Co. No. 69.
SubjectsCircus animals--1890-1900. Spectators--1890-1900. Circuses & shows--1890-1900.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,059 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-115038

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