JACKSON, Joseph E. SPECIMENS OF THEATRICAL CUTS … SUITABLE FOR THEATRICAL, VARIETY, AND CIRCUS BUSINESS… . Philadelphia: Ledger Job Printing Office, (1869). Pebbled cloth sides over gilt stamped leather spine, considerably rubbed. Approximately 300pp. reproducing posters, handbills, dodgers, programs, trade cards, and other advertisements produced by the company for a wide range of theatrical productions and live performances, including half-page, full-page, and many tipped-in full-size lithos and posters, folded to fit the binding. Samples appear in color, monochrome, and black-and-white. 4to. Covers detached. Tears, wear, and soiling, especially at fold lines of full-size tipped-in posters, but generally good condition overall. A REMARKABLE RECORD OF AMERICAN PRINTING THAT SHOULD BE SEEN. RARE; the only example we have traced at auction of this edition in the last 100 years.
An astonishing and well-preserved record of stock posters, programs, and woodcuts produced by one of the great American theatrical printers flourishing after the Civil War. This sample book, as the introduction states, is filled with both miniature facsimiles and full-size samples (some as large as 28 × 20") of work produced by the Ledger Job Printing Office. These stock posters depict sideshow illusions, circus acts, magic shows, and a host of theatrical stock productions. Among the images are depictions of Mazeppa, The Sphinx illusion, various circuses (including acrobats, wagons, and equestrian acts), a full-color velocipede lithograph, a host of stock plays (Cinderella, The Black Crook, Forty Thieves, Sinbad, Aladdin), and more. Most images are captioned with price quotations and specifications to potential purchasers. Among the tipped-in full-size posters included is a small lithograph advertising Blind Tom (Thomas Wiggins, 1849–1908). A framed example of this scarce lithograph was offered in these rooms as Lot 42, The Ricky Jay Collection, February 25, 2023.