In small-town America at the turn of the 20th century and into the succeeding decades, one of the highlights of the year was the annual arrival of the circus. The excitement was palpable as the colorful posters proclaiming its appearance were slapped up on walls and any other available space weeks before the show's arrival by advance men, wielding buckets of pungent-smelling paste and long-handled brushes.

The large, vibrant posters promised a breathtaking mix of death-defying high wire acts and exotic freak shows, prancing elephants and ferocious tigers controlled by a whip-wielding ringmaster, comical clowns and beautiful bareback riders. Today, when so little of that survives, those colorful vintage posters, many of them masterpieces of graphic lithography, are highly collectible.

The first known circus in America was established in 1793, when a British trick rider named John Bill Ricketts put together a group of equestrian exhibitions, tumbling, rope-dancing and juggling acts. Following the War of 1812, the tent circus pitched on village greens, with its sideshows and menageries, started to become very popular across the country.

The first entrepreneur to put on a traveling show was Hackaliah Bailey who, in 1815, began by purchasing an African elephant from a sea captain for $1,000. The five Ringling brothers started a circus in 1884, merging with P.T, Barnum, the most famous showman of his time, presenting such acts as the singer Jenny Lind, the midget Tom Thumb, and Jumbo, the elephant purchased from the London zoo in 1882, with the resultant Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus earning its slogan, "The Greatest Show on Earth." Part of the deal forming the new amalgamation was that Strobridge & Co. would be their sole poster printers. Another major early circus was Sells Bros., which produced outstanding posters, also printed by Stobridge.

The earliest announcements of circuses were large-format black-and-white woodcuts and smaller steel-engraved posters similar to early newspaper illustrations (and called "bills," as in "handbills"). But when the revolutionary color lithography process, imported from Bavaria, swept the printing industry in the late 1880s, the circus industry was among the first to utilize it, employing such firms, in addition to Strobridge, as the Enquirer Job Printing Co. of Cincinnati, and the Courier Printing Co. of Buffalo.

The actual production of circus posters was a team effort, with any number of artists working on the overall design. Often, certain artists specialized in particular subjects and usually worked from photographic images. "Black" artists would draw the dark outlines of the images, after which color artists would work on separate color area blocks. Probably the most memorable and recognizable single image is illustrator Clarence Livingston Bull's depiction of a leaping tiger, sometimes still used today.

There were two categories of posters: stock designs that depicted the general mix of clowns and animals and other typical circus iconography, which could be used by any company, and specialty posters showing specific acts used in individual shows, highlighting stars like the Flying Wallendas or Zacchini, the Human Cannonball.

There are still many examples on the market that are fairly inexpensive, but the really spectacular early ones from the major outfits like Barnum & Bailey, Ringling Bros. (often featuring Jumbo), and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, can cost a lot more; those depicting the more gruesome "freak acts" are particularly popular with a large segment of collectors.

Though few individual artists are identifiable by name, there is one French designer, Jacques Faria, who worked in turn-of-the-century Paris is acclaimed for his colorful and complex depictions of Lyria, a performing dog, and daring trapeze artists. Among the few identifiable Americans are Lawson Wood, Maxwell Frederic Coplan, Roland Butler and Forest Freeland, in addition to Clarence Bull.

Linda Rosenkrantz has edited Auction magazine and authored 18 books, including "Cool Names for Babies" and "The Baby Name Bible" (St. Martin's Press). Visit her baby names website at http://nameberry.com. She cannot answer letters personally. To find out more about Linda Rosenkrantz and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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