91

Collection of approximately 40 circus photos compiled by famed Barnum and Bailey press agent Roland Butler. 1920s-40s.

Silver prints
The dynamic collection features pictures of many notable clowns, such as Lou Jacobs, Emmett Kelly, and Pat Valdo. Photographs related to circus-owners include a portrait of John Ringling taken by the famed circus photographer Edward J. Kelty and a studio portrait of Clifton Sparks Jr., the young son of Sparks Circus founder, shown smiling widely while a lion cub sleeps on his leg. Also included are shots of acrobats, roustabouts, lions and their tamers, elephants, and other staples of the big top. Other commercial photographers represented in the collection include Bill Nottingham and the Chester photo service. Some with a Barnum and Bailey stamped credit on mount recto, and most with a Roland Butler Collection stamp and some with notations in pencil or ink or credit stamps on verso or mount verso.
The images 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 22.9 cm.) to 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm.), most flush mounted

  • Notes:
    A lively look at the Golden Age of the American circus. This dynamic collection of photography comes from the collection of longtime Barnum and Bailey press agent Roland Butler, a consummate showman and coiner of the phrase "the circus is coming."

    During his long career, Roland Butler was considered the best-known circus press agent in the United States. His 1961 New York Times obituary declared him to be a master of exaggeration and hyperbole whose trumpet call to entertainment usually employed some type of adjectival barrage or or antediluvian English and who, it was said, had a conversation voice that would carry a quarter mile in the rain.
  • Condition: For condition reports, email Deborah Rogal at [email protected]

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December 16, 2025 12:00 PM EST
New York, NY, US

Swann Auction Galleries

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