Handbill: P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth. Season of 1878

Handbill advertising P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth. Season of 1878. The handbill promises one vast undivided show and that the circus will be an academy of object teaching. It lists the presence of a tattooed Greek nobleman who is likely Captain George Costentenus, and 20 trained stallions. Two exhibitions are to be held daily, at 1 and 7 o'clock. A portrait of P.T. Barnum is in the upper left of the handbill, and an image of five trained stallions standing on their hind legs is also featured. Measures 12 by 5. inches. Barnum is best known for his involvement with the circus that bore his name, but his circus ventures came about when he was in his 60s. The first show was called P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus. Railroads propelled the circus to success, making it easier to reach a number of locations, and the intake was significant. Barnum then opened the New York Hippodrome with similar acts. In the 1880s, he encountered competition from other circuses. A merger between Barnum's show and the Great London Show of Cooper, Bailey, and Hutchinson formed the Barnum and London Circus. Negotiations in 1887 formed the Barnum and Bailey circus. The name remained until 1919 when it became the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It came to an end in May 2017 when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus ceased performances after 146 years.