This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/25/2023
[STRONGMAN] TOPHAM, Thomas (1710 – 49).
THE REPRESENTATION OF THOMAS TOPHAM THE STRONG MAN, WHO LIFTED THREE HOGSHEADS OF WATER WEIGHING 1836 LB.
London: W.H. Toms, 1741. Single leaf folio engraving of the scaffolding and three giant barrels, Topham atop the former and lifting the latter via wide leather straps hooked over his shoulders. 11 ¾ x 8 ½”, mounted to an album page. Sold together with Thomas Topham, Commonly Called the Strong Man. [London]: J.H. Burn, 1841. A three-page flyer, said to have been produced in an edition of but 10 (“for Islington collectors”), and comprised of three leaves, printed rectos only, giving a brief biography of Topham and recounting incidents in his short life. Mounted to an album leaf on left edges only. See Caulfield, Remarkable Characters, Vol. 6, pp. 208 – 215 and Exemplars, p. 100. Despite reports of Topham’s mild-mannered nature, much of his life was unhappy. A perpetually unfaithful wife, combined with many business difficulties were the roots of the problem. Though he was an innkeeper, his real success was found as a strongman. Topham’s most celebrated performance is pictured in this engraving, an event staged on May 28, 1741, at the Apple Tree Inn (opposite Coldbath Fields prison), a London pub he may have been operating at the time. The hogshead barrels he lifted that day were filled with water and weighed an estimated 1836 lbs. In early August 1749, worked into a frenzy over his wife’s continued infidelity, Topham stabbed her, and then himself with the same knife. Topham’s wife survived the assault, but he was not as lucky. After languishing for a few days Topham died and was buried in the church of St Leonard, Shoreditch, on August 10, 1749.