Beschreibung:

Hughes, [Charles]Hughes's Riding-School. [London]: n.p., [1772] Letterpress playbill (483 x 387 mm). Printed in red, with type at head and center, surrounded by 14 woodcut vignettes depicting Hughes's feats of horsemanship; old folds, browning at corners, some light creasing. Charles Hughes was the top rival of Philip Astley. He had been employed at Astley's circus before leaving "to set up a new establishment in direct competition with his former boss" (EE). Here Hughes advertises performances of horsemanship by a number of riders, including his sister, "The celebrated Sobieska Clementina" who "rides one, two, and three horses, standing upright on the saddles full speed," as well as his own riding "in fifty different attitudes that never were performed by any other horseman." The broadside culminates in a challenge: "Any horseman who can equal Hughes, or only one of his capital feats, ... let him make his appearance any evening this season ... and perform them ... and he shall receive a premium of 200 Guineas." As Hughes's "productions were frequently short-lived, advertisements and documents of his shows survive with much less frequency than those of Astley. This broadside, a seminal document of the nascent circus, is apparently unrecorded. It is distinguished by a number of attributes: its formidable size, in contrast to typical playbills of the day; its handsome overall design; charming woodcuts, in surprising quantity (twenty!); and the arresting application of red ink, not merely for rubrication or emphasis, but for the entire document" (EE). REFERENCE:EE, p. 44Condition reportCondition as described in catalogue entry.