1820c Baba Musical Elephant, Cirque Olympique, Hand bill, stone lithograph, mammal

Extremely rare item of ephemera issued as a hand bill to advertise ‘Baba the Musical Elephant’.

Engraved in stone by A. Cornillon des Boucheries

25.7 x 21.7 cm

On fine wove paper.

The Cirque Olympique in Paris, also known as the Cirque Franconi, was an equestrian theatre company, founded in 1782 by Philip Astley, the English inventor of the modern circus ring, and was initially known as the Cirque d'Astley or the Cirque Anglais. stley leased his Parisian circus to Antonio Franconi in 1793, during the French Revolution. Because of the small size of Astley's theatre, Franconi moved the circus to the enclosure of the former Convent of the Capucines, where he constructed stables and a new theatre. 

In 1807 Franconi ceded his enterprise to his two sons, Laurent and Henri, who renamed it the Cirque Olympique. This hand bill dates from the period at which the Circus burnt down and can be seen as a very early use of stone lithography for advertising purposes.

Light spotting.

This print not held in the British Museum.