Potter & Potter Auctions
Live Auction

The Ricky Jay Collection

Sat, Feb 25, 2023 12:00PM EST
Lot 349

Van Amburgh & Co’s New Great Golden Menagerie, Circus, and ...

Estimate: $1,000 - $2,000

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
Van Amburgh & Co?s New Great Golden Menagerie, Circus, and Colosseum! New York: James Reilley, Printer & Engraver, ca. 1877. Double-sided pictorial letterpress herald, descriptive text on the recto bounded by dozens of wood engraved images of the equestrians, foot jugglers (on horseback), a lion tamer, and exotic animals that made up the show; the verso with eleven large woodcuts of animals in the menagerie and two vignettes of the acrobats that made up the cast. 27 5/8 x 10 ??. Ragged edges, short tears, one loss in upper margin with some contemporary hand-embellishment in red ink. This bill lists Hyatt Frost (1827 - 95) as manager of the Van Amburgh enterprise for ?thirty-two consecutive years.? At one time partners with P.T. Barnum in the latter?s fabled New American Museum, he parted ways with the famed showman after a conflagration destroyed the Museum -- and Frost?s finances along with it.