This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2023
DAVIS, Hiram and Barney. Boylston Museum Menagerie and Lecture Room. Little Wild Men. Boston: F.A. Searle, ca. 1870. Double-sided playbill for the mixed bill at this Boston exhibit hall (formerly Burnell’s Museum), the featured attraction being the Wild Men of Borneo, here advertised as “great favorites of the ladies” and their act illustrated with three wood-engraved vignettes, including images of their feats of strength. Other acts include Jennie Quigley, dwarf; General Totman dwarf, D.C. E. M. Worth, Oriental traveler lectures on Japan; and Redmond, a glass blower. 23 3/4 x 9 1/8”. One corner clipped, foxed, marginal folds and some wear, but very good overall. Hiram Davis (1825-1905) and Barney Davis (1827-1912) grew up far from Borneo, in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. It was showman Lyman Warner who created the Borneo story, dubbed them “Waino and Plutano,” and brought them to American fairgrounds as human curiosities. The brothers were later exhibited by Barnum with great success. Standing approximately 40” tall and weighing about 45 pounds each, the “wild men” were mentally challenged, but presented incredible feats of strength for their size, said to be capable of lifting some 300 pounds.