[CIRCUS HISTORY] The Australian Wild Children

A$350 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Circa 1875. Albumen print photograph, cabinet card format, 165 x 115 mm, printed caption on mount beneath image, verso with studio imprint of Lentz Bros., Peru, Ind [iana].; the albumen print is a little faded and has some light marks; the mount is in good condition. A portrait of two microencephalic sideshow freaks , whose physical appearance led them to be referred to by promoters and commentators at the time as pinheads . The children were billed as Hoomio and Iola, who had purportedly been found in the interior of Australia. An anonymous contemporary promotional pamphlet, which gives a fictitious account of their background, is recorded in several Australian collections ( The Adventures of the three Australian travellers : Capt. J. Reid and his companions Cooper and Parker, in search of the marvelous : giving a graphic account of the discovery, capture and semi-civilization of the wild Australian children, Hoomio and Iola : together with a sketch of the savage tribes inhabiting the interior of Australia : with a brief account of the customs, manners, heathen beliefs, superstitions, traditions and origin of those barbarous and curious islanders . New York : S. Booth, 1864). Hoomio and Iola are known to have been exhibited by promoters from around 1864 to at least 1869. However, this cabinet card, which appears to be an otherwise unrecorded portrait of the pair produced around 1875, suggests that they were still being used by sideshow promoters at this time. Interestingly,

• Binding: Hardcover

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