Item #4915 Exhibition, at the Thespian Hotel, Pearl-Street, Albany. A Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris, Having Lately Arrived Here From New -York, Offer Their Services to the Public in a Series of Performances, in the Above Line, Never Before Exhibited Here…
Exhibition, at the Thespian Hotel, Pearl-Street, Albany. A Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris, Having Lately Arrived Here From New -York, Offer Their Services to the Public in a Series of Performances, in the Above Line, Never Before Exhibited Here…
Exhibition, at the Thespian Hotel, Pearl-Street, Albany. A Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris, Having Lately Arrived Here From New -York, Offer Their Services to the Public in a Series of Performances, in the Above Line, Never Before Exhibited Here…
Exhibition, at the Thespian Hotel, Pearl-Street, Albany. A Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris, Having Lately Arrived Here From New -York, Offer Their Services to the Public in a Series of Performances, in the Above Line, Never Before Exhibited Here…
Exhibition, at the Thespian Hotel, Pearl-Street, Albany. A Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris, Having Lately Arrived Here From New -York, Offer Their Services to the Public in a Series of Performances, in the Above Line, Never Before Exhibited Here…
Exhibition, at the Thespian Hotel, Pearl-Street, Albany. A Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris, Having Lately Arrived Here From New -York, Offer Their Services to the Public in a Series of Performances, in the Above Line, Never Before Exhibited Here…
Exhibition, at the Thespian Hotel, Pearl-Street, Albany. A Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris, Having Lately Arrived Here From New -York, Offer Their Services to the Public in a Series of Performances, in the Above Line, Never Before Exhibited Here…

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Exhibition, at the Thespian Hotel, Pearl-Street, Albany. A Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris, Having Lately Arrived Here From New -York, Offer Their Services to the Public in a Series of Performances, in the Above Line, Never Before Exhibited Here…

Albany, New York, 1805. Broadsheet, 17.5” x 10.75” (sheet size); text on recto, 8 wood-engravings on verso.

An exceptionally rare and wonderfully graphic broadsheet advertising the appearance of a company of Parisian acrobats in Albany, New York in September of 1805.

This delightful playbill, featuring text on one side and eight circular wood-engravings on the other, announces the arrival in town of “a Numerous Company of Rope Dancers, From Paris,” identified as Mr. and Mrs. Manfredi and sisters Louisa and Catherine, presumably their daughters, as well as a number of unidentified children and adults. It advertises a Friday Evening, September 20th, performance and describes a program of thirteen acts, divided into two parts. Part I consists of dances and other performances on the rope, among them “A Dance in Character, on the Rope, by Miss Louisa”; “A Minuet, in Character, by Mrs. Manfredi”; “An Entertainment, called the Moving Table” by Mrs. Manfredi; “A Breakfast on the Rope, in the Chinese fashion” by Mrs. Manfredi; and “The Drunken Dragoon by Mr. Manfredi and astonishing feats of the Hoop, in which he will turn himself in a variety of shapes, on the Rope.—He will beat the Drum on the Rope, the whole to be done without a balance-pole.”

Part II consists mainly of feats of strength and jumps, including “The Pyramid of Egypt, and the Strength of Hercules, Imitated by Mr. Manfredi; in which he will support several children on different parts of his body.—He will play The Stick, in which he can defend himself against twelve men.—He will take a lion leap over two Cross Swords”; “Several Feats of Strength and Agility, by the two Sisters…”; and “A Biscayian Dance, in which Mr. Manfredi will dance among 12 eggs blindfolded.” The performance concludes “With a Hornpipe, by Miss Catherine.”

Eight of these acts are pictured in a series of delightful wood engravings on the verso, among them “the Moving table,” “Breakfast on the Rope,” “A Dance without the Counterbalance, and the very pleasing performance of Two Colours” (Mrs Manfredi on the rope holding a flag in each hand), Mr. Manfredi’s leap over crossed swords, and three different feats of strength.

OCLC records just one copy of this broadsheet, at the New York Public Library. The cataloging attributes the wood engravings to Alexander Anderson, but the broadsheet is not included in Jane Pomeroy’s catalog raisonné of Anderson’s work, and the attribution seems doubtful.

A marvelous evocation of acrobatic entertainment touring America in the Federal period.

REFERENCES: Shaw & Shoemaker 8414.

CONDITION: Good, toned, old folds, small losses, mainly at edges, a 2.5” tear and a 1.5” tear into text at top, a few old tape and paper label repairs on verso, with no effect on images.

Item #4915

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