Primrose
Title
Primrose The celebrated piebald boy, a native of the West Indies; publicly [sic] shewn in London 1789
Description
Full-length portrait of John Richardson Primrose Bobey, a young Black man with the pigmentation disorder vitiligo, born enslaved in Jamaica, and inspected and exhibited as a specimen of science throughout England. Shows the young man standing on a shoreline. He stands with palm trees in the distance. He is dressed in a loincloth knotted on his left hip and adorned with tassels. White patches are visible on his legs, torso, and down the center of his head. In his right hand, he holds up a captioned portrait broadside of himself as a boy and points to it with his left hand bent at the elbow and from in front of his waist. The broadside depicts the very young Bobey with primarily white skin above text reading "A Child born at Gros Islet, in the Island of St. Lucia, of Black Parents, Taken from a model of the infant colored from nature," and at the museum of T. Pole, Surgeon, Grace Church, in London." In adulthood in London, Bobey advocated for his freedom from enslavement and was a proprietor of a menagerie and a member of several societies, including the Free Masons., Title from item., Manuscript note on recto: Presented T. Pole Surgeon, London, to the Library of Philadelphia., Publication information inferred from broadside illustrated in image and address of London publishers Wm. Darton & Jos. Harvey., Noted in LCP Minutes, v. 3, p. 230-231., Biographies of sitter in Karl Pearson, A monograph on Albinism (London: Cambridge University Press, 1911-1913) and William Granger, The new wonderful museum, and extraordinary magazine: ... (London: Printed for R.S. Kirby, 1804), v. 2, p. 711-714., Pole, a Philadelphia-born Quaker physician, was also an artist who illustrated his own text "An Anatomical Instructor, an Illustration of the Modern and Most Approved Methods of Preparing and Preserving the Different Parts of the Human Body, and of Quadrupeds, by Injection, Corrosion, ... (London, 1790)., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014., Descripton revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Gift of Thomas Pole, 1790., RVCDC
Date
[ca. 1789]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | PRINT. *portrait prints - Primrose [901.F.27]
An heir to the throne, or the next Republican candidate. [graphic]
Title
An heir to the throne, or the next Republican candidate
Description
Racist cartoon using African American side-show performer William Henry Johnson to lampoon the extent to which the Republican party supported the rights of African Americans as a part of their Election Platform of 1860. In the left, depicts editor of the Tribune, Horace Greeley, who says, "Gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you, this illustrious individual in whom you will find combined, all the graces, and virtues of Black Republicanism, and whom we propose to run as our next Candidate for the Presidency." In the center, Johnson, depicted with a bald and tapered head and attired in a long-sleeved shirt, shorts, and black shoes, leans on the spear that he holds in both hands and asks in the vernacular, "What, can dey be?" In the right, candidate Abraham Lincoln leans on a rail and says, "How fortunate! that this intellectual and noble creature should have been discovered just at this time, to prove to the world the superiority of the Colored over the Anglo Saxon race, he will be a worthy successor to carry out the policy which I shall inaugurate." In the background is a poster that reads, "Barnum’s What is it. Now exhibiting." William Henry Johnson was born in Liberty Corners, New Jersey to William and Mahalia Johnson, who were formerly enslaved. As Johnson’s head was smaller and sloped, agents from van Emburgh's Circus in New Jersey exhibited him with a story that he was caught in Africa and was a "missing link." P.T. Barnum then exhibited him with the names "Zip the Pinhead" and "What is it.", Probably drawn by Louis Maurer., Title from item., Date from copyright statement: Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1860, by Currier & Ives, in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Southn Distt of N.Y., Accessioned 1970., RVCDC, Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Creator
Currier & Ives
Date
1860
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Political Cartoons - 1860-33R [7922.F]
Hagar
Title
Hagar & Campbell's Dime Museum, Ninth & Arch Sts. Opens Monday September 3d 1883
Description
Lively advertising print for the dime museum operated by W. D. Hagar and W. T. Campbell 1883-1885. Shows throngs of people entering the mansard-roofed building, heavily adorned in signage and over 40 pictures of the museum's performers, at the northwest corner of Ninth and Arch Streets. Signs read "Specially Adapted for Ladies & Children: Open Daily from 1 to 10 P.M."; "Curiosities Constantly Arriving From All Parts of the World"; and "Philadelphia's Pleasure Palace Containing Countless Curiosities / Peerless Parlor Peformances." Other signs announce the hours of operation, the museum's purpose for the "instruction and amusement" of ladies and children, and the admission price - 10 cents. Performer's pictures primarily depict human curiosities and include tattooed men and women, a bearded lady, clowns, a two-headed woman, little people, an armless man, a man eating a slate, exotic and native costumed figures, as well as a magician and a ventriloquist. Graphics also show exotic animals and birds. Building also adorned with flags promoting the museum and its attractions, including "birds, beasts, and mechanical marvels." In the street, three street cars (nos. 44, 33, and 26) and one wagon, advertising Hagar & Campbell's, travel and stop in front of the museum. Wagon is composed of billboards illustrated with an image of seven women with floor-length hair and captioned "Seven Wonders of the World.", Also shows adjacent buildings, a crowd of people at the side of the museum, and pedestrians and passersby in the street, on the sidewalk, and near and looking at the street vehicles. Print also contains portraits of owners W. D. Hagar and W. T. Campbell in the upper corners. By 1884, Campbell and Hagar were officers in the Barnum and London show managing "Privileges." Campbell stayed with Barnum until at least the early 1890s., Date inferred from title., Gift of Barbara Fahs Charles and Robert Staples., POSP 286
Date
[1883]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department ***BW - Advertisements - H [P.2013.82]
Scrapbook with periodical illustrations, comic valentines, and patent medicine advertisements
Title
Scrapbook with periodical illustrations, comic valentines, and patent medicine advertisements
Description
Eccentrically-arranged scrapbook predominantly containing newspaper clippings, patent medicine almanac advertisements, and comic valentines. Also contains scraps, trade cards, and labels. Clippings, many published in the sensational periodicals “National Police Gazette” and “Days' Doings” primarily depict illustrations of murders and violence, crimes and punishments, human curiosities, animal attacks, human peril, women in distress, evocative theatrical performances, acts of daring, cross dressing and comic scenes in silhouette.