393 - ANONYMOUS. Pinder, France’s largest traveling circus, touring the world. Its one-of-a-kind ring. Its giant stage. Its arena. 3rd Grand Festival of International Circus and Ring Stars. Marcel Till. 1938 edition. Lithographic poster. Printed by Bedos & Cie—Paris. M. Orcel - Marseille. Mounted on canvas, very good condition. 38 x 28 cm

ANONYMOUS. Pinder, France’s largest traveling circus, touring the world. Its one-of-a-kind ring. Its giant stage. Its arena. 3rd Grand Festival of International Circus and Ring Stars. Marcel Till. 1938 edition. Lithographic poster. Printed by Bedos & Cie—Paris. M. Orcel - Marseille. Mounted on canvas, very good condition. 38 x 28 cm This poster announces the 1938 season of Cirque Pinder, one of France’s oldest and most famous traveling circuses, founded in 1854. In the 1930s, under the direction of Eugène Houcke, Pinder regularly combined circus performances with boxing matches, hence this “Grand Festival of International Circus and Boxing Stars,” which brought together circus performers and sports champions. The headliner, Marcel Thil, was one of the greatest French boxers of the interwar period. The phrase “before his upcoming departure for America for the world championship” most likely refers to his trip to New York and places the printing of this poster in the fall of 1937. The flag of Nazi Germany (top left) normally appeared alongside those of other nations at this type of “international” event. The year 1938 was, in fact, a turning point: it was the year of the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria, March 1938) and the Munich Agreement (September 1938), one year before France entered the war.