Search Results: Authors starting with U from Rob Zanger Rare Books LLC

1900. Very good +. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (190 x 241 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. "One of the factors that made circus so popular was that fairground entertainers travelled to their audiences. From the late 18th century, circuses toured to even the smallest towns and in the 19th century the development of the railways enabled circuses to travel further. By the 1870's huge circuses were touring across Europe and America with two or three trainloads of equipment. Early touring circuses were often small operations, manned entirely by a single family. The company might include a couple of acrobats, a clown who performed a comic equestrian act, a tightrope walker, and as many horses as could be afforded - perhaps two trained to perform and two used to pull the cart from town to town. A short show would be repeated several times a day from noon… Read More

1951. Very good +. Gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. [On the website of the Robert L. Parkinson Library & Research Center (The World's Source for American Circus History), the woman in this photograph is identified as her circus colleague Cilly Feindt (Photograph CWi 3182). Friedel Luciana Paster's obituary in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Tuesday, July 23, 2002 page 6B, entitled "Horse Trainer was a star of Royal Lipizzan Show," provided several biographical detail: "Friedel's entire life revolved around her beloved horses," said former circus performer and friend Rebecca Nock Brodeur of Bradenton. "She trained at the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna and was in her first horse show when she was 12. She later trained her three stallions and toured in shows all over the world with her parents, Otto and Luciana," Brodeur… Read More

1900. Very good +. Gelatin silver print, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (190 x 241 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. Many characteristics of the modern circus-such as parades, acts of skill, animals, and clowns-had become mainstays of many circuses by the mid-19th century. The circus parade through the streets, serving as a triumphal entry into town by each overland circus caravan, developed during the mid-19th century. The tradition evolved in the United States, although it was the English who popularized it and created the most spectacular processions and the most ornately carved circus parade wagons. Interest in circus parades increased in the United States when Seth B. Howes imported several English wagons in 1864. The American circus parade, which subsequently became a national institution, became the climax of a highly systematized publicity campaign to arouse interest in the circus… Read More

1950. Very good +. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. September 1992 newspaper obituaries lauded Lou Jacobs as the "emblem for the Ringling circus," "the world's most famous living clown, "the last of the best." "Fellow circus performers and other veterans of Clown Alley . . . knew the man: they knew there was no paradox in Jacobs. The white-face and the rouge did not mask some poverty of spirit. They magnified a generosity that his colleagues responded to as readily as his audiences. . . "He was more than a master clown,' said Steve Smith, the director of the Clown College. 'He was a master human being." "His face--with trademark oversized mouth, gaping smile and arched eyebrows framing a brilliant red balloon of a nose--was used on thousands of posters and billboards over the years to herald the coming of the… Read More

1940. Very good +. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (190 x 241 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. Suvasini Ramaswamy published this account in The Wire on February 25 2016: " . . . elephants are not domesticated but are rather just wild individuals whose 'will' has been tamed. They remain immune to our domesticating attempts by virtue of their long gestation periods, their low birth rates and their large size and appetite (expensive to maintain for the many generations needed for domestication). And yet historically, the sheer power, size and scale of elephants have made them attractive to humans as an enormous powerhouse waiting to be tamed. The art of taming and training elephants goes back nearly 4,000 years and seems to have developed originally in Asia, from where it is believed to have spread to Africa and Europe. . .

1960. Very good +. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. "Emmett Kelly, a pantomine clown whose "Weary Willie" character has a permanent niche in the lore of entertainment and the hearts of millions, died Wednesday in the circus town of Sarasota, Fla. He was 80." "Since 1931, he has been a full-time clown and his character always has been "Weary Willie." Unlike other clowns, Willie was a woe begone little fellow, a down-and-outer a figure of pathos as much as a figure of fun. He wore a battered hat and tattered clothes. His nose was red, he needed a shave, and his broad mouth was turned down at the corners. He never spoke and he never laughed. Audiences found him as irresistible as Charlie Chaplin's "Little Tramp" to whom he bore a melancholy resemblance. . . . He came gradually," he said, a "hobo who always got the… Read More

1945. Very good +. Gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. This photograph was published on Pat Cashin's website Clown Alley on Saturday, February 10, 2007 with the following notice: "The photo, used extensively by the Ringling press dept. is of Kathryn Kramer and my father, Jack LeClaire. Kathy was a fantastic tumbler and back bender being able to put her chin on her rear end bending backwards. Photo probably 1945 as that was the year they had all the girls come in bareback . . . . My father could never understand why they used that photo for a press photo. . . It was taken on a rainy day (look at the sky) . . . My father dug out this old satin clown suit, very wrinkled from being packed in the trunk, for the rainy weather. Kathy passed away several years ago. She was a very close friend always. Of course my dad has been gone since… Read More

1930. Etching with aquatint on cream wove paper, 12 x 7 inches (304 x 172mm), full margins. Signed illegibly in pencil, lower right, with a charming remarque image of a book vendor on the lower margin. In very nice condition with extremely minor toning in the lower sheet corners.

London: English Printmakers, 1883. Etching with aquatint and stipple on cream laid paper, 7 x 4 3/4 inches (175 x 120 mm), full margins. With a stamped signature including the date in the lower right image area, and the English Pintmakers blind stamp, lower left sheet margin. In very good condition with extremely small dog-ear shaped hard crease lower left sheet corner. A lovely 19th century Parisien interior scene.

1950. Very good. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (190 x 241 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. "Lou Jacobs was one of the most famous professional clowns in the world, a favorite to American circus-lovers for 60 years. Touring with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus based in Sarasota, Jacobs touched the lives of both adults and children around the globe. He also became a founding professor at Clown College in Venice, Florida, where he helped create generations of future clowns. The circus gave Jacobs all the opportunity and inspiration to pursue his dream of becoming a professional clown. By 1935 he had transformed himself through innovative make-up and outlandish, over-sized clothes into an irresistible attraction, and his knack for writing clever, funny gags had cemented his career in clowning. Some of Jacobs comic sketches became… Read More

1950. Very good +. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. "The world of the circus is a world of mystery, excitement, apprehension and thrills, all rolled into one. For children, the wonder of the circus is best experienced sitting in the dark, eyes wide, a tingle of excitement shivering up the spine. For adults, that magic is magnified by a behind-the-scenes look at the circus in all its glitter and glory. And, of course, there were the animals. An old circus poster from 1879 depicting zebras, lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants and other animals quotes Genesis: "And God said, let us make man after our own image, and give him dominion over every living thing that moveth" -- a sentiment the circus has always taken to heart. For a long time every circus featured at least a few lions, elephants and other animals trained to… Read More

1950. Very good +. Gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. "In the United States meanwhile emerged another type of clown, not exclusive to the US but popularised with the rise of early silent movies. This was the character clown, the most popular of these being the Hobo or Tramp clown although character clowns can be police officers, women, or babies - any character at all. In the great depression of the 1930's, unemployment and homeless people recorded an all time high. From this, the Tramp Clown appeared. Charlie Chaplin was probably the first and best remembered. He travelled from England to America at the turn of the century, just in time to take advantage of the new medium of film. The invention of the cinema in the 1890's gave clowns greater scope than they could have previously imagined. Skills learned in the circus, the music… Read More

Very good +. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) The Greatest Show on Earth Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) from the Roland Butler Collection, hand stamp on verso. According to Pliny the Elder: "The elephant is the closest of all animals to humans in intelligence. It understands the language of its own country, and can therefore understand and obey orders. Elephants are wise and just, remember their duties, enjoy affection, and respect religion. They know that their tusks are valuable, so when a tusk falls off they bury it. Elephants are gentle, and do no harm unless provoked." [The largest land mammal on Earth, elephants embody the African landscape. Using seasonal cues and their long-term memories, these hulking creatures travel vast distances in close-knit herds to find water and food throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Highly intelligent and social animals, they learn most of their behaviors through the… Read More

1940. Very good +. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (190 x 241 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. Gargantua, a headliner with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1937 to 1949 was quite possibly the most famous circus animal of the 20th century. "Based on his posters, crowds expected a terrifying animal, capable of pulling apart the bars on his cage and crushing people with his bare hands." Adrian Brune, "Hartford Courant," January 19, 2006 'A TRIBUTE TO THE REAL KING KONG, GARGANTUA

Paterson, New Jersey, 1870. Very good +. Albumen silver print. 10 11/16 x 16 3/16 inches. The first iron, and fourth bridge to cross the Chasm was placed there July 2, 1868, was eighty-five feet long and was built by the Watson Machine Company, builders of the Post Patent bridges. E. M. Graff, Passaic County Historical Society Publication, October 1944. The river was highly significant in the early industrial development of New Jersey. It provided a navigable route connected by canals to the Delaware River starting in the late 18th century. It also was an early source of hydropower at the Great Falls of the Passaic in Paterson, resulting in the early emergence of the area as the center of industrial mills. "The Great Falls: Power for Another Revolution?" Jacqueline Mroz; The New York Times, March 27, 2009. More than 200 years ago, during the Revolutionary War, Alexander Hamilton was traveling with General George Washington when the men stopped with their entourage to have a meal in front of a… Read More

1832. Very good +. Unique Album, 8 5/8 x 11 3/8 in. (220 x 290 mm); 50 sheets of heavy hand made paper, come in pastel colors. Bound in light calf with dainty decorative borders in black and white ink, bearing classical motifs and medallions, tooled on corners and border in gilt and a beautiful color painting in a diamond frame at the center, bearing the view of an elegant pavilion in a formal garden, with 4 elegant characters walking about; 5 raised bands and gilt decorations with two red morocco labels, untitled; blue and beige end papers, lower corners bumped. One signature slightly loose but overall in very good plus condition. The album contains a varied collection of memorabilia including, some pasted in and some loose: - a dedicatory letter written on board of the ship/boat Sirena (mermaid) on 13 June 1832 to Antonietta on her name-day. The writer (unsigned) talks of this book as a reminder of the best times of his life, of travels to Naples, Pompeii, and climbing on top of Vesuvius which… Read More

1960. Very good. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. Pirkko Gerdes-Ussin came to the United States from Finland in 1955. She was married to Hans Ussim, a clown with the Ringling Bros. Circus. She was nothing less than photogenic. Looking upon her brings to mind the lyrics of There is Nothin' Like A Dame, from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific: There is nothin' like a dame, Nothin' in the world, There is nothin' you can name That is anything like a dame! There are no books like a dame And nothing looks like a dame There are no drinks like a dame And nothing thinks like a dame Nothing acts like a dame Or attracts like a dame There ain't a thing that's wrong with any man here That can't be cured by putting him near A girly, womanly, female, feminine dame.

1940. Very good +. Gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in. (241 x 190 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. Animals have always played a big role in the circus; elephants, tigers, lions. But decades ago the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus wowed their crowds with gorillas. One of those gorillas was known as M'Toto. She quickly became a household name in Sarasota, and her legacy lives on today. . . . "She was nice to have around. Just to know that you had a friend who was a gorilla and a lot of people enjoyed that," says former clown Toby Ballentine. M'Toto -Swahili for little child- was brought to the Suncoast in the 1940's by A. Maria Hoyt. The arrival happened in a time many in the U.S. knew very little about gorillas, says Pamela Rosaire, a long-time circus primate trainer. "In those days, you didn't see gorillas...even in zoos. They hardly had any in this country or… Read More

1940. Very good +. Gelatin silver print mounted on board, 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (190 x 241 mm) from the Roland Butler Collection, Press Agent, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1930s-1960s) Roland Butler Collection hand stamp on verso. When Barnum and Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth" rolled into American towns . . . daily life abruptly stopped. Months before the show arrived, an advance team saturated the surrounding region with brilliantly colored lithographs of the extraordinary: elephants, bearded ladies, clowns, tigers, acrobats and trick riders. On "Circus Day," huge crowds gathered to observe the predawn arrival of "herds and droves" of camels, zebras, and other exotic animals-the spoils of European colonialism. Families witnessed the raising of a tented city across nine acres, and a morning parade that made its way down Main Street, advertising the circus as a wondrous array of captivating performers and beasts from around the world. For isolated American audiences, the sprawling circus… Read More