Flying Through the Air

The astonishing collection of memorabilia at Circusmuseum.nl includes nearly 8,000 posters from 1880 to the present. Here is a tiny taste of the acrobats and aerialists.

The Leo-Tardy, 1904

The collection was amassed by circus enthusiast and scholar, Jaap Best. 3,500 lithographs by German printer Adolph Friedländer (including the above poster of The Leo-Tardy) form the core of the collection.

Jules Léotard, by the way, not only pioneered the art of trapeze (after getting a law degree), and popularized the one-piece bodysuit, but he was the inspiration for the song  "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze."

Braun & Braun, 1919

Andys Troupe, 1924

The Trio Hinode, 1905

The Three Cour's, 1911

The Urmann's, 1926

Circus Busch, Famille Frediani, 1910

The Four Flying Chinese's of the Royal Troupe 

Lijen-Chaisan, 1907

The Okabe Family, 1909

Blumenfeld's Luft Sensationen, 1925

Hegelmann-Troupe, 1913

Cirque des Frères Bouglione, 1951

Bertram Mills Circus at Oympia, 1938

Kerst Circus, 1996

Circus Barlay, 1960

1988

Bureau, 1951

Cyrk Wielki, 1971

Amar, 1960