The Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. P.T. Barnum and J.A. Bailey, Equal Owners. Together with the Most Stupendous and Regal Historical Production of Any Era, Nero; or, The Destruction of Rome. A Grandly Realistic, Classic and Romantic Spectable, Invented, Designed and Produced by Imre Kiralfy. [Cover-title] Imre Kiralfy’s Grand Romantic Historical Spectacle Nero, or the Destruction of Rome.

Buffalo, N.Y.: The Courier Co., Show Printers, 1890. 8vo theater program, chromolithographic wrappers, 8” x 23” folding chromolithographic frontis. 22 pp., including inside wrapper ads.

A striking, dramatic program for a historic spectacle produced and directed by Imre Kiralfy for Barnum & Bailey in New York City.

Credits for this show are given on page one: music composed by Sgr. Angelo Venanzi of Milan; costumes and accessories by Wilhelm of London; as well as five more contributors from Paris, Milan and London. Contents include a list of characters; a general synopsis; a vivid description of the Three Tableaux; a biography of Nero entitled “The Life of Nero”; and a history of “The Circus Maximus.” The striking chromolithographic wrapper illustrations depict scenes in the Circus Maximus. On the front wrapper, a victorious warrior proudly faces the audience standing on top of a fallen soldier, and an angel balances barefoot on a skull. The back wrapper features three chariots frantically racing with bareback riders, all with flowing capes. The fold-out frontispiece depicts the rich pageantry of “Nero’s Triumphal Return From Corinth.” On 9 March 1890, The New York Times reported Barnum and Bailey secured the Seventy-first Regiment Armory, Broadway and 35th St., for rehearsals and an exhibition of over 3000 of the costly costumes for Imre Kiralfy’s Nero show; also noting that a 500 foot tent would be installed by about April 14th for the Greatest Show on Earth.

Born in Hungary during the Hungarian Revolution in 1845, Kiralfy trained at the Paris Opera Ballet with his brother, eventually writing and producing shows in the U.S. and England such as: “America,” produced at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, 1893; “Venice in London,” 1895; “Victorian Era Exhibition,” 1897; “Military Exhibition,” 1901; and “Paris in London,” 1902.

CONDITION: Rubbed covers and wear at extremities, 1 cm closed tear at bottom-left of front wrapper, 1 cm separation at foot of spine, clean and bright frontis. illus., wrapper separated from text block, interior clean and sound, a very appealing copy.