[Moritz] | Mr. Moritz's troupe performing in a "most astonishing manner"

[Moritz]

Moritz's Troop. Lambeth: Romney Printer, [ca. 1809]

Letterpress playbill (438 x 187 mm). Printed in several type sizes, four woodcut masonic symbols to head; old horizontal folds, closed internal tear at one fold and chips to margins, browning to head. Matted, framed, and glazed in Plexiglas; not examined out of frame.

Mr. Moritz and his troupe present a performance of horsemanship, trained birds, tight rope dancing, and balancing acts. Among one "of the first to present ghost-raising phantasmagoria" in England and one "of the more versatile impresarios of his day, this German-born entertainer exhibited as a conjurer, strongman, equilibrist, and instructor to a troupe of sagacious goldfinch" (EE).

Ricky Jay was "particularly drawn to this broadside, which ... exhibits an appealing variety of attractions as well as typographic flare and pleasing layout" (EE). The broadside was possibly "used to advertise [Moritz's] show at Brook Green Fair in West London" (EE).

REFERENCE:

EE, p. 64