Largest stone lithograph magic poster

The largest ever was a massive 28-sheet poster printed in 1895 by the Strobridge Lithograph Company (USA) for Frederick Bancroft (USA, 1967 – 1897).  It measured 2.74 x 7.62 m (9 ft x 25 ft) and required at least 140 sheets of limestone to produce.  Bancroft’s publicity material was considerably more notable than his performances.

The poster, which was originally part of the Egyptain Hall Museum collection, was bought in 2001 by Gary Peterson (USA).

Magic and circus posters produced at the end of the 19^th and beginning half of the 20^th century were printed using a now defunct technique known as “Stone Lithography” Each “1 sheet” size  (71 x104 cm (28 x 41 in)) of a full colour poster  required at least four sheets of limestone hand-prepared by artists. Magicians would frequently print one, three and eight sheets posters to publicize their shows.