Description: A very scarce antique die cut color lithograph : " Souvenir from the Equine Paradox " " Nellie " ( the name of the horse featured on the front ) On the back : " Prof. Geo. Bartholomew Equine Paradox Program " ( etc., etc. ) Published by Nat. Adv. Co., Seneca Falls , New York Undated; circa late 1800s. Thick card, cut in the shape of a painter's pallete , 8" x 10 9 1/6" Formerly pasted into a scrapbook. The color lithograph front is in excellent condition. The " Program " text at the rear is partially obscured. Very Scarce. Carefully packed for shipment to the buyer. -------- Historical information : Professor George Bartholomew (1833-1920) was a horse trainer and public entertainer. George W. Bartholomew was born on May 14, 1833 in Erie County , New York. He went west in 1848 at the age of 15 years to prospect for gold ; he arrived at San Jose , California , but two years in the mines was enough for him. With gold mining money in his pocket, he made a home in Oakland, California , and began his life-work. After some years of patient labor, Bartholomew developed a horse training method which was both effective and entirely kind to the trained animals. Bartholomew conducted a traveling exhibition of trained horses, touring in the United States of America in the late 1800s. He traveled with a troupe of as many as 24 horses, which would appear indoors on the stage of opera houses, etc., as a public entertainment. As of the late 1880s, he was the only exhibitor of trained horses who received the endorsement of humane societies. His horses were unharnessed and uncoerced ; the were simply trained and directed by Bartholomew himself, and performed by word of command. Bartholomew's horses could " do everything but talk ," and his exhibitions provoked laughter, amazement, and admiration in his audiences. The horses were "educated like children" to perform various amusing and astounding feats , including a "classroom" performance in which the horses took on the role of an irritable teacher (" Mustang " ) and several students , including two horses which were " delinquents " and misbehaved in class. The horses would ring a bell, solve mathematical problems , etc., etc. " Miss Nellie " was one of the good students in this performance. Other horses in the show included " Sprite ", " Bucephalus ", " Jim ," " Draco ", etc., etc.; they were thoroughbreds , arabians , etc. Next came a " Court Scene " in which a horse-judge appeared on a podium, with a horse-clerk and two horse-lawyers at their desks arguing the case, and the jury box filled with horse-jurors. The Equine Paradox program finished with a " Marvelous Military Drill " in which the horses exhibited " near human intelligence " in the performance of enacting a battle scene. Captains " Black " and " Snowball " take command of two military horse companies. The horses behaved like regular soldiers ; marching , firing cannons , lying as casualties on the battlefield , etc. Bartholomew died on April 10, 1920 at the age of 86, and was buried at Mound Grove Cemetery in Independence , Jackson County, Missouri.
Price: 100 USD
Location: Coventry, Rhode Island
End Time: 2024-11-06T18:53:34.000Z
Shipping Cost: N/A USD
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Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Antique Victorian die cut lithograph: Horse Training Show Horses Victorian
Color: Multi-color
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Animal trainer George Bartholomew: Performing Horses Theatrical Entertainment
