Sideshow Finland

[click to enlarge]


Loci points out the digital collections of the Finland-Sweden University Library [Åbo Akademis Bibliotek Åbo Akademi University {wikipedia}] in Turku, Finland (the site is in swedish but hosted in Finland : I guess that's fair).

The images above come from the section entitled 'Offentliga nöjen i Åbo på 1800-talet- en samling affischer'. They have numerous sideshow/circus/magic/charlatan-esque handbills and ephemera relating predominantly, as far as I can tell, to the local Åbo theatre from between 1830 and 1860. The print quality is obviously cheap, but that quaintly humorous era of stage carnival and visual theatrics comes through loud and clear, irrespective of any translational hurdles. Actually, I think the language disimiliarities are an additive twist.

And speaking of ye olde Victorian era, but not so much at the fringes, things links to a complete 1867 Harper's Bazar magazine.