Circus Posters

About Vintage Circus Posters

With the debut of the modern traveling circus in the early 1800s, circus posters became crucial for drawing crowds to what were only one or two performances per location. Many early ads were simple woodblock prints mentioning the name of the circus, the price of admission, and a few acts (often pre-printed images with custom text). Later, in the early 20th century, colorful, fanciful custom designs of leaping animals, clowns, and ringmasters became standard for circus posters.


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Interviews & Articles

An Interview With Poster Designer David Lance Goines

I don’t collect posters. I don’t collect anything. I started making posters one at a time by hand in high school ju… [more]

Guest Column: Collecting Vintage Magic Posters

What are vintage magic posters? Posters of magicians printed by the stone lithography method qualify as vintage… [more]

An Interview With Vintage Movie Poster Collector Sam Sarowitz

Our first book was called "The Independent Movie Poster Book" and that was published by Harry Abrams. The focus was… [more]



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Circus Posters Videos



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Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)

Circusmuseum.nl

Circusmuseum.nl

Step right up and check out almost 8,000 beautiful circus posters, photos and prints. Assembled by longtime Dutch c… [read review or visit site]

London Transport Museum Posters

London Transport Museum Posters

A must-see collection of 5,000 vivid, colorful British posters from the early 1900s onward. Browse by artist (over … [read review or visit site]

Fillmore and Avalon Collection

Fillmore and Avalon Collection

Wish you'd visited San Francisco in the late 1960s? Get a quick hit with this comprehensive collection of psychadel… [read review or visit site]

MagicGallery.com

MagicGallery.com

This collection of hundreds of posters, cards and portaits from the 'golden age of magic' (1890-1930) is organized … [read review or visit site]

USSR Posters

USSR Posters

Ben Perry's Flickr photoset showcasing almost 1500 Soviet propaganda, advertising, theatre and movie posters from 1… [read review or visit site]

New York Public Library

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library's impressive Digital Gallery offers free access to over 500,000 historical images inclu… [read review or visit site]

The American Memory Project

The American Memory Project

This amazing Library of Congress site includes about a hundred photo and document collections (see complete list) o… [read review or visit site]


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Top eBay Auctions  Help | Get weekly Circus Posters email

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Dead Letter Circus East Coast Tour Poster! $13.75 Ends in 23 hours 1 bid
Original Cristiani-wallace Circus Poster (1962)$13.50 Ends in 17 hours 3 bids 3 watchers
King Bros Original Circus Poster Equestrian (c.1959)$13.50 Ends in 17 hours 3 bids 1 watcher
July 4th 1976 Circus Kirk Glen Rock Nj Poster $9.99 Ends Sunday 1 bid 1 watcher
Original King Bros Circus Poster (1961)$9.99 Ends in 17 hours 1 bid 3 watchers
Original Clyde Beatty Circus Poster Big Otto (1958)$9.99 Ends in 17 hours 1 bid 3 watchers
1960 Barnum & Bailey Circus Poster Tattooed People $9.99 Ends Monday 1 bid 8 watchers
Original Older Shrine Circus Poster Wheeling Stadium$5.17 Ends Sunday 4 bids 2 watchers
Gerry Cottle's Circus Poster Sunderland 13 X 29$5.00 Ends in 11 hours 1 bid 1 watcher
Bobby Roberts Circus Poster$1.51 Ends in 1 hour 1 bid
Tom Duffys Circus Poster$1.51 Ends in 2 hours 1 bid 2 watchers
Circus Krone Poster Postcard Elephants 2000 Casaro$1.14 Ends Tuesday 1 bid 2 watchers

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