This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/17/2024
The Adventures of the Three Australian Travellers… Discovery, Capture, and Semi-Civilization of the Wild Australian Children. New York: Printed by S. Booth, 1864. Original printed yellow wraps, lower bearing a full-length woodcut portrait of the “wild” children. [1-3], 4 – 16. General soiling, a few corner folds, dog-ears and chips, but very good. SCARCE.
This pitch book was apparently sold by those exhibiting the children, known as Hoomio and Iola, “for their benefit.” The pamphlet contains a fictionalized account of their lives, in addition to discussing the “savage tribes inhabiting the interior of Australia.” The children were widely exhibited for at least half a decade and sometimes appeared with Chang and Eng. They suffered from microcephaly.