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On your wall
The WPA & the Golden Age · The American Golden Age
The Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth - Chaste, Charming, Weird & Wonderful Supernatural Illusions Created by Roltair, the Magician
Strobridge Lithographing Co., Cincinnati and New York · Barnum & Bailey / Strobridge Litho. Co., Cincinnati & New York, 1898
What it is
Printed in 1898 as a color chromolithograph by the Strobridge Lithographing Co.
Why it matters
of Cincinnati and New York, this Barnum & Bailey sheet advertises the illusions of the magician Roltair. The billing works hard to have it both ways - 'chaste, charming' in the same breath as 'weird & wonderful supernatural' - reassuring the family trade while promising the uncanny. Strobridge was the era's premier circus printer, and the plate carries the dense, saturated stone-work that made its posters the standard for the industry.
What to notice
A Strobridge chromolithograph selling Roltair's stage phantoms as the circus's most respectable thrill.
The years America learned to argue, sell, and dream in ink.
Provenance
- School
- The American Golden Age — the Poster before 1931 (United States)
- Designer
- Strobridge Lithographing Co., Cincinnati and New York
- Printer / house
- Strobridge Litho. Co.
- Format
- Advertising poster
- Poster published
- Barnum & Bailey / Strobridge Litho. Co., Cincinnati & New York, 1898
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN 98500611
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 40x60" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
