[Civil War]: [Campbell, Frank G.]:

$35,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[EXCEPTIONALLY LARGE, COLOR-PRINTED WOODCUT BILLBOARD OF A CIVIL WAR BATTLE SCENE IN TWENTY-FOUR PANELS, ADVERTISING THE MELODRAMA, Gettysburg, BY FRANK G. ... A remarkable and astonishingly large woodcut billboard consisting of twenty-four panels, most likely advertising Frank G. Campbell's briefly popular Civil War melodrama, Gettysburg. The panels were printed by the prolific Calhoun Print Company of Hartford, Connecticut. The image depicts a large-scale battle scene, likely Pickett's Charge, with a mounted Union officer leaping over his fortifications followed by his troops. The Union soldiers seem to have the upper hand over the charging Confederates, many of whom are fleeing in disarray despite the encouragement of their standard bearer. This striking image is emblematic of the Calhoun Print Company's style and production in the late 19th century, which they put to good use printing similarly enormous posters for other theatrical productions and for Wild West shows, including those of Buffalo Bill. A wood engraving of this magnitude would have been a monumental undertaking, requiring many hundreds of carefully carved wood veneers – several for each color on each panel. A large poster like this would have been installed by a small crew of people on the side of a large building or another prominent public place in a city where the production was taking place, most likely supplemented by other, smaller posters which would contain more descriptive text. Much like a modern b

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