Doe and Hope

Description

Illustrating the thirty components of the Savages galloping horse fairground roundabout, showing the arrangement of a set of Savage steam-driven gallopers drawn to show the construction of a typical 36-foot diameter, 3 abreast, 36 horse machine entitled ‘The Savage… Steam Gallopers’ in crimson circus block script top left.

There are some small amounts of loss to the poster mainly to top right and the paper does show a fair amount of spotting commensurate with age, but the overall display is clear and now preserved safely in a simple glazed black frame.

For over a century, power driven roundabouts in one form or another have been the popular riding machines at fairs and none more so than the ‘gallopers’. Most of these galloping-horse roundabouts were built by the firm of Savage Brothers of King’s Lynn in Norfolk, England and fortunately many of these machines made by the Savages around the turn of the century survive today, though very few of them are still driven by steam. Until recent years, no fairground was complete without its share of Savage- built merry-go-rounds, switchbacks and showmen's engines. Each machine was nothing short of a masterpiece, not only of engineering ingenuity, but also of flamboyant art and craftsmanship. Savages' fairground machinery was exported all over the world, but the root of this success lay in agricultural implements originally made for local farmers.

Scarce and aesthetically appealing, this makes for a truly original piece of fairground art.