{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O158261"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O158261/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV8890/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV8890/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AV8890","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AH5569","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KN4637","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O158261/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O158261","accessionNumber":"S.71-1981","objectType":"Poster","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This poster, advertising the French tightrope walker Blondin, was remarkably bold for its time, featuring a large, woodcut image of the famous performer. By 1869 Blondin was a regular feature at the Crystal Palace. When the proposal to hire him had first been made in 1862, one of the directors was concerned about the bad publicity that an accident might provoke. ‘Suppose he was to fall?’ ‘Blondin, fall from a rope!’ replied Harry Coleman, his manager, ‘He can’t’. Blondin was offered a fee of £1,200, four times as much as the next highest paid performer.\r\n\r\nThe picture shows his specially adapted bicycle, which he called a Velociped, and was one of the props he invented to keep the act from becoming stale. In the 1960s, a hundred years after its invention, Blondin’s grandson found his grandfather’s velociped for sale in a London junk shop.","physicalDescription":"Pictorial and typographic poster, advertising the acrobat Blondin, depicting him on a bicycle-like contraption holding a balancing pole and riding along a tightrope. Black and white print on paper.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Williams, T","id":"A23759"},"association":{"text":"printers (people)","id":"AAT25732"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"}],"techniques":[{"text":"letterpress","id":"AAT178926"},{"text":"wood-cutting","id":"AAT53296"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Woodcut and letterpress print on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Advertising","id":"THES49001"},{"text":"Posters","id":"THES252963"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006AV8890","2006AH5569","2017KN4637"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES345133"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"posters","id":"AAT27221"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"printing","id":"AAT53319"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1869","earliest":"1869-01-01","latest":"1869-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"AAT53319"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"99","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"68","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"CRYSTAL PALACE / FORESTERS' / GREAT DAY!","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""},{"content":"BLONDIN / ON THE HIGH ROPE, WET OR DRY. / TUESDAY, AUG. 17 / ONE SHILLING / Bro T. WILLIAMS, Steam Printer, 231, Pentonville Road, N.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Poster advertising Blondin at the Crystal Palace, 17 August 1862.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Mass produced","id":"THES48863"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Crystal Palace (South London)","id":"x33206"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Blondin","id":"N5488"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"bicycles","id":"AAT212636"},{"text":"tightrope","id":"x40345"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Poster advertising Blondin (Jean Francois Gravelet 1824-1897) on the High Rope, Crystal Palace, London, 1869.\r\nWoodcut and letterpress\r\nMuseum no. S.71-1981","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["S.71-1981"],"accessionNumberNum":"71","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1981,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN8223","2019LP0586","2019LT4752","2019LU9395"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-18","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-30","availableToBook":true}}