American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Letterpress broadside promoting an exhibition of the "Illinois Giant Boy!" N.p.: Monitor Print, n.d. 5 7/8 x 8 1/8 in. (spotting, creasing, soiling, rips/tears to edges). Bold text describes the size of David Navarro, an 18-year-old male weighing 660 pounds: "The Most Wonderful Growth Of a Human Being in 12 Years ever on Record." -- Sketch of the Life, Personal Appearance, Character and Manners of Charles S. Stratton, the Man in Miniature, Known as General Tom Thumb, Fifteen Years Old, Twenty-Eight Inches High, and Weighing Only Fifteen Pounds. New York: Van Norden & Amerman, Printers, 1849. 24pp., 12mo, brown printed wrappers, sewn (missing back wrapper, heavy damage and discoloration throughout). -- The Gulick-Blaisdell Guaranteed Attraction. No. 3. Chicago: National Printing Co., n.d. 4pp, 10 3/4 x 14 1/2 in. (creasing, dampstaining, rips/tears to edges, corners, and creases). Front page advertises "The Great Bruno," who speaks "17 Different Languages Fluently and grammatically correct." -- "Believe it or Not!" by Robert L. Ripley. Chicago, IL: n.p., Ca 1929. 32pp, 8 1/4 x 10 7/8 in. (toning, some chipping to edges and corners). -- Together, 4 imprints associated with circus and other performing acts.

David Navarro (1861-1882) worked for P.T. Barnum among a number of other circuses, museums, and side shows during his short life, including Harris's Mammoth Sixth Street Museum in Pittsburgh. It was during his tenure at Harris's Museum that he contracted smallpox, which eventually ended his life. Navarro was described by many as a friendly young man, and he had planned to marry a young lady he met during his time in Pittsburgh prior to his untimely death. The Pittsburgh Post noted, "The girl who had hoped to be his wife takes his death very much to heart."