This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2023
PRIMROSE BOBEY, John Richardson (b. 1772). Ne Plus Ultra. Arrived Here for a Short Time Only. (Hull, ca. 1790). Letterpress broadside with small wood-engraved image at its top for the exhibition of curiosities at the “Commodious Room, at the Golden Fleece, in the Market-Place, Hull,” of three “most astonishing and wonderful production[s] of human nature ever seen in Europe,” namely, a “Spotted Indian Youth,” born in Jamaica, who imitates the songs of birds and other animals; three little people (or possibly pygmies), who receive top billing; and an armadillo, billed as a “real hog in armour.” 12 ¼ x 7 ½”. Edges ragged, old chips and folds, partially mounted at verso. Primrose, born to Jamaican slaves, was piebald (or afflicted with the pigment disorder vitiligo), and is here described as having a “head covered with black and white wool; his breast, arms, legs &c. are of a delicate white, equal to any Europeans, spotted with black, resembling a beautiful Leopard: in short it is impossible to give the human imagination an adequate idea of so matchless a rarity.” He was exhibited by a variety of managers before winning his freedom and striking out on his own. In his later years he married an Englishwoman and became a proprietor of a menagerie.