(Automata) | Including a "Great War" and a "Representation of Nature, in one of her most Tremendous Aspects"

(Automata)
A group of three playbills

Thiodon, J.F. Mechanical and Picturesque Theatre of Arts. Hull: Thomas Topping, 1825. Letterpress playbill (545 x 225 mm). Mounted on linen; chips to margins, browned, stray spots. — Last Week! Thiodon's Celebrated Mechanical and Picturesque Theatre of Arts. Yarmouth: Sloman, 1855. Printed playbill (750 x 245 mm). Printed in black on very thin paper, large woodcut vignette to center, doubly ruled in woodcut border; browned, spotting, a little rubbing, chips to margins, margins and area at center reinforced on verso with tissue, a few internal tears. — Professor Groves' … Diorama of Turkey and India | Grand Mechanical and Pictorial Temple of Wonders. Shipley: N. Walker, [after 1857]. Letterpress playbill (890 x 285). Printed in blue in a profusion of type sizes, large margin at head; old fold at head, short closed tears to right margin, chip to foot, a little soiling.

The two playbills announcing J.F. Thiodon's Theatre advertise two of his most acclaimed exhibitions: the Storm at Sea—"Vessels beating against the Tempest, struck by Lightning, and finally engulphed in the Deep—Seamen endeavoring to save themselves from the neighbouring Rocks; altogether a faithful Representation of Nature, in one of her most Tremendous Aspects"—and the Automaton on the Flying Rope. The latter is particularly well described in the playbill from 1925: "The Rope will be in continual Motion, and the Figure will sit perfectly easy, and in a graceful attitude, while on the Swing, and perform the most surprising Evolutions, scarcely to be distinguished from a LIVING PERFORMER, as it moves with the utmost Correctness, without any apparent machinery." The striking playbill for Professor Groves' Diorama notably includes an automata performance of a "Great War in India"—chronicling the Indian Revolt of 1857.

Sold as group lot, not subject to return.

Condition Report:
Condition as described in catalogue entry.

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