This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2023
MILLIE-CHRISTINE (Millie and Christine McKoy, 1851 – 1912). For a Short Time only. The Wonderful Two-Headed Nightingale. London: J.W. Last & Co., Printers, [1871]. Letterpress double-sided broadside with wood-engraved full-length portrait of the famed conjoined American twins by Purcell, billing them as “nineteen years old / in perfect health” and sharing the bill with Anna Swan, “the famous Nova-Scotian Giantess!” and Capt. M.V. Bates, the “Great Kentucky Giant.” The verso is filled with “Opinions of the Press,” both American and English, regarding appearances of the girls and their three appearances (by command) before the royal family. 25 ½ x 7 ¼”. Old folds, very tiny chips in margins. Born into slavery outside of Whiteville, North Carolina, Millie and Christine were sold when just ten months old, and exhibited publicly by the age of two. The girls were shown widely in America, including at Barnum’s American Museum, from where they were abducted and taken to England. Freed by the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Millie and Christine went on to study music and languages, and continued their careers before the public. As dancers, singers, and musicians, they found steady work and success, eventually returning to North Carolina and the farm where they were born, which had been purchased by their father and willed to them upon his death. They lived there for over two decades, until their passing just twelve hours apart on October 8, 1912.