Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

Step Right Up: Circus and Sideshow Memorabilia

Thu, Sep 3, 2026 11:00AM EDT
  2026-09-03 11:00:00 2026-09-03 11:00:00 America/New_York Potter & Potter Auctions Potter & Potter Auctions : Step Right Up: Circus and Sideshow Memorabilia https://auction.potterauctions.com/auctions/potter-potter/step-right-up-circus-and-sideshow-memorabilia-23625
Featuring the collection of lifelong circus collector John Diesso, this auction includes heralds, couriers, and posters advertising the "greatest shows" of yesteryear. Photographs, route books, scrapbooks, and circus costumes will be also be offered, spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A wide array of early European circus posters will be sold, along with a large library of circus books of several thousand volumes.
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Lot 393

Book of Jumbo, Largest Elephant in or out of Captivity courier.

Estimate: $150 - $300
Starting Bid
$80

Bid Increments

Price Bid Increment
$0 $5
$30 $10
$100 $25
$500 $50
$1,000 $100
$2,000 $200
$5,000 $500
$10,000 $1,000
$20,000 $2,000
$50,000 $5,000
$100,000 $10,000

Book of Jumbo, Largest Elephant in or out of Captivity courier. Circa 1882. Sixteen-page courier advertising the elephant Jumbo with P.T. Barnum's shows, in Hartford, June 5, (1882). 

14 x 10 1/4".

Condition

Corner tears with slight text loss; tape repairs; in stable condition with some losses.

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