Living Fiji Cannibals. To be seen only in P.T. Barnums Travelling Worlds Fair, the Greatest Show on Earth. Advertising card.
USA: 1873. First printing. An advertising palm card with a facsimile letter on the verso "Ladies Gentlemen Children Friends; I come among you this season of 1873 with a great Traveling World's Fair; Museum, Circus (double) - Menagerie Hippodrome Caravan and 100,000 rare curiosities. This is my last great crowning triumph of 40 years experience. The world never saw the like and you will never look upon the like again. I give you ten times your money's worth. Truly yours, P. T. Barnum. 438 5 Avenue, New York". Beneath that " Admission Free to All who purchase the "Life of P.T. Barnum" written by Himself, 800 pages, Price Reduced from $3.50 to $1.50." By an account in 2018 in the York, PA Daily Record, the "cannibal dwarf general" died & was buried there in 1872. However, he is still pictured on this palm card dated 1873. Truth in advertising was never Barnum's strong suit.
"In 1872, Barnum purchased four Fijians to perform as the ‘Fiji Cannibals’, Ki Na Bose Yaco, Ko Ratu Masi Moa, Otavah, and Ra Bian – known as ‘The Dwarf’ or ‘The Little General’. The four were used in Barnum’s ‘Human Zoo’ menagerie and freak show, a common feature of circuses at the time. Barnum also bought 'Princess Otavaia', who was believed to have been a African American slave from Virginia, to add to the cannibal act."
*Crum, W.C. History of P.T. Barnum’s Fiji Cannibals. Item #27075
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