With 670 pages and nearly 900 color and black-and-white illustrations, The Circus, 1870-1950 brings to life the grit and glamour behind the circus phenomenon. Images include photographic gems by key early circus photographers such as Frederick Whitman Glasier and Edward Kelty, about 180 of the earliest color photographs ever taken of the circus from the 1940s and 1950s, 200 posters by the famous Strobridge lithographers, iconic circus photographs by Mathew Brady, Cornell Capa, Walker Evans, Weegee, Lisette Model, and little-known circus images by Stanley Kubrick and Charles and Ray Eames; also included are rare color and black-and-white lithographs and engravings from the 16th–19th centuries illustrating the worldwide roots of the circus, as well as original sideshow banners by legendary sideshow banner artists Nieman Eisman, Fred G. Johnson, and David “Snap” Wyatt.
