Description

[004694] [Cheltenham Fete] Unprecedented Attraction! Extraordinary Novelty!! Montpellier Gardens Cheltenham. Cheltenham: J. J. Hadley, 1843. First Edition. Double Elephant. Unbound. Broadside. Fair. Printed broadside, approximately 125mm x 720mm (narrowing to 115mm to bottom half) in size

Once cut in half and laid down, now lifted and reattached, with the bottom half having been trimmed 10mm narrower, small hole towards foot of upper half (no loss of text), some blackening probably from glue but all text is readable

Advertising a fete in Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham, on the evening of the 4th September, 1843, with a variety of attractions including a military band, a concert, the “miraculous and almost superhuman feats” of ‘La Francka Hispaniola’, “he will balance a pole, weighing forty pounds, on his feet whilst laying on his back, and performing at dance as though he was dancing on the floor. The Metropolitan press has declared these wonderful performances as the most surprising ever yet accomplished by man; to attempt a description would be useless, as they far exceed imagination as to appear a deception of all the human senses”

There was also a “colossal Montgolfier balloon, 90 feet high, the largest that has ever ascended in the world”, as well as a firework display by Mr. Darby

Printed by J.[ohn] J.[oseph] Hadley, fl. 1823-1847, the proprietor of the Cheltenham Journal (see BBTI)