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National Theatre Broadside

8

Broadside promoting a performance of the play, Witchcraft! or the Martyrs of Salem, at the National Theatre in Boston in October 1847.  

This broadside showcases a wide array of mid-19th century typography, from slab serifs and highly contrasting modern serifs of various widths and weights to a line set in sans serif, which would have been fairly novel at that time.

This piece of promotional ephemera is an intriguing artifact from the period. It advertises a play about the Salem witch trials at a theater that prohibits women from attending shows without male chaperonage. The broadside specifies: “No ladies admitted to any part of the Theatre, unless accompanied by a Gentleman.”


imprint: Hooton’s Press, Haskins’s Building, opposite the head of Hanover street