Freakatorium: The Collection of Johnny Fox

History of the Aztec Lilliputians. Great Britain: Stephens, John Lloyd, 1853. Original wraps. Full title: “Aztec Children - Memoir of an Eventful Expedition in Central America Resulting in the Discovery of the Idolatrous City of Iximaya… and the Possession of two Remarkable Aztec Children….” 8vo. 38pp. Hand-colored illustrations, preface, and index. Very good. Toole Stott (Circus) 14138. A work of pure “humbuggery” that tells the entirely fictionalized tale of the discovery of the Aztec children. The author’s name, like the tale the pamphlet recounts, is entirely fictional. Microcephalic brother and sister Maximo and Bartola were billed as ‘The Aztec Children’ and exhibited by Barnum for many years. They first appeared in 1849, around the same time as the ‘Wild Men of Borneo.’