At something over seven feet long, this nineteenth-century circus poster is too big to fit in any of our flat files. Note how it falls over the side of our largest unit.

For years, this beautiful print had been folded and crushed into small drawers along with several hundred other circus posters and broadsides. Today, it came back from our conservation lab cleaned, flattened, and rehoused.

Thanks to Ted Stanley, Special Collections Paper Conservator in our Preservation Office, we are nearing the end of an almost year-long project to repair and restore the fragile posters and broadsides in our Barnum and Bailey Circus collection.

The artist of this work is not well known today. A resident of Ohio for his entire life, John Rettig (1855-1932) is known for his murals in the Cincinnati Masonic Temple, for the set decoration he painted in Ohio theaters, and for his poster designs. In 1886, Rettig was commissioned to paint the panoramic scenery for a spectacle entitled The Fall of Babylon, which would take the place of the annual procession of the Order of Cincinnatus.

With seating for 8,000, the spectacle was the largest of its kind in Ohio. Each year following, a different theme was added to the pageant, including the Fall of Rome, the Fall of the Aztec Empire, and many more. According to the Biographical Dictionary of Panoramists (http://www.bdcmuseum.org.uk/uploads/uploads/biographical_dictionary_of_panoramists2.pdf)

The Fall of Babylon was sold and exhibited at St George Park on Staten Island, New York (today a parking lot) in 1887. For this Imre Kiralfy’s Grand Spectacular Company provided over 1,000 ballet dancers.” Kiralfy moved the performance to many other large American cities and eventually sold it to the joint firm of P.T. Barnum and J.A. Bailey.

As with other posters designed by Rettig, this one was chromolithographed and produced in large numbers. Since most were pasted to walls and billboards, few have survived. There is no date or location on the poster so that it could be used wherever the show was performed. Our collection holds over two dozen posters and streamers for The Fall of Babylon in its many variations.
John Rettig, The Fall of Babylon. Designed and painted by John Rettig (Cincinnati: Barnum and Bailey, ca. 1895). Chromolithograph. Graphic Arts Collection

As he tosses books into the flames, the Prince of Wales says, “Echod this is a fine Stroke, my observations on the Family & Letters, all burned, John Bull will still be left in the Dark, & he must pay for it at last.” The Duke of Portland (seen here) replies, “And the Duchess will think me as Chaste as Joseph—So much for my Darling.”

Isaac and George Cruikshank, Burning the Memoirs, April 24, 1809. Etching with hand coloring. Graphic Arts Collection GC022 Cruikshank

Beginning in 1803, actress Mary Anne Clarke (1776-1852) became the mistress of Frederick Augustus, Prince, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), the second son of King George III. Although he provided a mansion and generous allowance, she wanted more.

Clarke used her influence with Frederick (who was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army) to obtain promotions for anyone who paid her price. In January 1809, the scheme was made public and by March, Frederick was forced to resign.

Isaac Cruikshank and his 16-year-old son George worked together to caricature Mary Anne and Frederick, publishing their print on April 24, 1809. Thomas Rowlandson beat them by a few days, with two caricatures: Burning the Books, on April 21, and A Piece Offering!! on April 22. The Graphic Arts Collection holds at least 32 prints on the controversy.

Clarke, seen at the far right, was paid a large sum to keep her diaries secret but in the end, could not keep quiet.

This scandalous case raised a cloud of pamphlets, some of which are very amusing, and most of them full of falsehoods; but the most curious of all was Mrs. Clarke’s own book, ‘The Rival Princes,’ in which she freely discussed the attitude towards each other of the Dukes of York and Kent, and attacked the leaders of the party who had brought on the investigation, especially Wardle, M.P. for Salisbury, and Lord Folkestone. This work was answered by two of much weaker character, The Rival Dukes, or Who is the Dupe? and The Rival Queens, or What is the Reason? by P. L. McCallum, a spy upon Mrs. Clarke, who prided himself on being the real author of the investigation. – Henry Morse Stephens for the Dictionary of National Biography

See also: A Letter to Mrs. Clarke: on her Late Connection with the Duke of York, and the charges preferred against His Royal Highness by G. L. Wardle, Esq. by a Friend to Church and State (London: Printed for and published by J. Bell …, 1809). Rare Books 14463.999 v.27

Mary Anne Clarke (1776-1852), The Rival Princes ; or, A Faithful Narrative of Facts, relating to Mrs. M.A. Clarke’s political acquaintance with Colonel Wardle, Major Dodd, &c. &c. &c., who were concerned in the charges against the Duke of York (London: printed for the author, and published by C. Chapple, 1810). Firestone 14463.361.25

Joseph Alexander Pecsenke (1942-1989), ‘Les Fantasies’, Vita et, Historia del Commedia dell’Arte (New York: n.p., 1981). 10 etchings printed in different colored inks on various colored papers. Graphic Arts collection GC097.

A reference question came to the department recently concerning the Hungarian/American artist Joe A. Pecsenke. As an actor, director, painter, printmaker, musician, and graphic designer, Pecsenke is particularly difficult to search because he worked under many different names in so many different mediums. Some work is listed as Joe A. Pecsenke, some under Giuseppe Pecsenke, Joseph Pecsenke, József Pecsenke, and other variations.

Born in Hungary, Pecsenke graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1967 and worked as a book illustrator, poster designer, and muralist while also acting in several motion pictures. Here are a few sources for additional information. http://budapestposter.com/artists/pecsenke-jozsef ; http://opa.uchc.edu/Artists/Joe%20A.%20Pecsenke.pdf ; http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0669811/

In 1974, Pecsenke moved to New York City where his work continued to merge visual arts with theater and music.

He wrote, “My first creative activity took place when I was eight years old. I painted stripes on a pushcart at the market and also made a sketch on a sheet from my school notebook of the pushcart owner bear-like face. That same year I became an apprentice in the studio of a painter. During the following two decades I had many teachers, still I consider this first one as my real master. His name was Jules Hornyánszky. He taught me how matter, form, light and color compose . . . In the Spring of 1974, Midnight Cowboy starring John Voight was shown in a small German movie house. Four weeks later I was on my way to New York with eighteen dollars in my satchel, one hundred photos of my work, and the obligatory toothbrush.”

Beginning in 1928 and continuing until his death, Dickson Q. Brown, Class of 1895, donated prints, books, and drawings by the artist Thomas Rowlandson to the Princeton University Library. Included was a small volume of drawings, previously unpublished and later described by Joseph Rothrock in the Princeton University Library Chronicle 36, no. 2 (winter 1975): 87-110: http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/pulc/pulc_v_36_n_2.pdf.

The British Museum’s prints and drawings collection has a similar volume of Rowlandson sketches. Neither group repeats the same scenes but similar characters appear in both, such as this fierce alligator (Princeton above and British Museum below).

Of particular interest in both groups are sketches related to Rowlandson’s series after James Beresford’s Miseries of Human Life.

[above, a sketch in the British Museum for one version of the Miseries of London]

First published in 1806, the book was so popular that several dozen editions followed. While the first books only had one frontispiece plate, later editions added more. Several artists designed and published small volumes of prints after Beresford’s text, Thomas Rowlandson and John Augustus Atkinson in particular.

This has led to trouble cataloguing the prints, with many different scenes and different artists using the same titles.These two, for instance, both illustrate the Miseries of Reading and Writing (Rowlandson above and Atkinson below).

See: The Miseries of Human Life; or the Groans of Samuel Sensitive, and Timothy Testy; with a few supplementary sighs from Mrs Testy. In twelve dialogues. As overheard by James Beresford, A.M. Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (London: Printed for W. Miller, Albemarle-Street, by W. Bulmer and Co. Cleveland-Row, 1806). Graphic Arts Collection Rowlandson 1806.31.11

John Augustus Atkinson (1775-1833), Sixteen Scenes Taken from The Miseries of Human Life. By one of the wretched (London: Wm. Miller, 1807). Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Rowlandson 1806.32

Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827), Miseries of Human Life; designed and etched by T. Rowlandson (London: R. Ackermann, 1808). A collection of plates issued singly in 1806, 1807 and 1808. Graphic Arts Collection (GA) Rowlandson 1806.33