[Barnum, P.T.; Millie and Christine McKoy; Chang and Eng Bunker; Lavinia Warren; and others]:

$7,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[ALBUM OF TWENTY-EIGHT CARTES DE VISITE DEPICTING A VARIETY OF SIDESHOW ACT STARS, MANY PROMOTED BY P.T. BARNUM, INCLUDING MILLIE & CHRISTINE MCKOY, CHANG & ENG BUNKER, GENERAL NUTT, TOM THUMB, AND ... A curious collection of cartes de visite depicting many of the most famous and popular sideshow acts of the late-19th century, including the original "Siamese twins" Chang and Eng Bunker, formerly enslaved conjoined singers Millie and Christine McKoy, P.T. Barnum's relentlessly promoted little people Tom Thumb, Commodore Nutt, and Minnie Warren, bearded women Delina Rose and Viola Myers, the Wild Men of Borneo "Waino and Plutanor" (i.e. Hiram and Barney Davis), and others. The album itself is contemporary but clearly repurposed, with old pencil captions referring to other 19th-century notables such as Gioachino Rossini and Edgar Allen Poe. A few of these images may be original to the album, as some of the earlier captions include Barnum himself, Millie and Christine, Chang and Eng, and others. A later owner, perhaps the compiler of the present collection, has captioned the versos of several portraits, identifying sitters and some details of their lives into the early 20th century. The images here were taken and distributed by a number of different photographers (including Matthew Brady), though the most well represented is Charles Eisenmann. Eisenmann (1855–1927) was among the most active photographers of circus, sideshow, and entertainment figures of his generation. His studio

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