Potter & Potter Auctions
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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 485

The Progress of Civilization. Thrilling Incidents in Actual Border Life in the Wild West [cover title].

Estimate: $150 - $250
Starting Bid
$80

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The Progress of Civilization. Thrilling Incidents in Actual Border Life in the Wild West [cover title]. Chicago: Empire Show Print, ca. 1888. Stapled engraved wrappers. Wild West and circus program issued by the Adam Forepaugh Show. Illustrated with engravings of Wild West show scenes and dramatized historical events (Custer’s Last Rally, pioneer life, Indians attacking cowboys, sharpshooters); and circus acts. Portrait of Adam Forepaugh on lower wrapper. Small 4to. 32pp. incl. wrappers. Over-print for a show in Taunton, Tues, July 10, (1888). 

 

Condition

Spotting and soiling at edges, otherwise very good.

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