Big Brother and the Holding Company Poster
1st printing A measures 14 3/16" x 19 15/16" on vellum. "Family Dog © 1966 Mouse! Studios" appears medium blue/purple. This version was printed before the concert.
The 1st printing B shows "Family Dog (c) 1966 Mouse! Studios" in a dark, almost black color. It also measures 14 3/16" x 19 15/16" and was printed before the concert.
The post-concert 3rd printing is 14 1/4" x 19 15/16" and presents "30-3" in the lower left corner. "1967 (c) Family Dog Productions 639 Gough St., San Francisco, Calif. 94102" appears in the lower right hand corner.
No poster with the "30-2" designation has been found, leading to the assumption that there was no official second printing.
Born in Detroit, Stanley Miller became known as "Mouse" after illustrating countless notebooks with his signature rodent sketch. Miller found an outlet for his creativity in pin-striping cars and airbrushing hot rod designs on posters and T-shirts. Mouse migrated to San Francisco in 1964, where he first met the artists associated with Family Dog, the organization producing dance concerts at the Avalon Ballroom. With collaborator Alton Kelley, Mouse experimented broadly with composition, lettering and imagery: Kelley came up with the ideas and Mouse executed the designs. Mouse and Kelley helped to establish the psychedelic style of expression under the name Mouse Studios.