Sells-Floto Circus Photo of the Curtis Muntiple [sic] Strike Driver circa 1920

Sells-Floto Circus Photo of the Curtis Muntiple [sic] Strike Driver circa 1910

Sepia toned photo measures 11 1/8 x 14 inches mounted on board of 11 3/8 x 14 3/8 inches. Photo has vertical fold top to bottom with several additional smaller tears and chips, mostly to edges. 3/4 square inch chip missing on left edge with smaller portion of photo missing. Held at an angle is imprint from apparent manuscript writing on verso of photo. Careful study may reveal text but I failed. Moderate soiling to photo. See scans. Fair condition.

Detailed photo of men operating a Curtis Multiple Strike Driver for the Sells-Floto Circus, circa 1920. Photo by Century Flashlight Photographers, Edward Kelty's company in New York City. E.J. Kelty toured and photographed circuses and their people for many years. Photo includes a nice hand painted sign advertising that this strike driver is powered by a Witte 2 to 30 horsepower Engine.

From the New York Public Library page on E.J. Kelty, "Kelty used a custom-made large-format camera and portable darkroom and followed circus troupes around the East Coast and Midwest, taking some of the most vivid photographs known to circus historians. However, lingering injuries from his Navy service in World War I, other personal struggles, and the hardships of the Depression led to Kelty closing his business and selling his camera and negatives by the early 1940s. Kelty died in Chicago, Illinois, in 1967.