General Tom Thumb (Charles Sherwood Stratton)Egyptian Hall ... Farewell Levees of Gen Tom Thumb. London: T. Brettell, [1846] Letterpress playbill (157 x 106 mm). Engraved portrait of Tom Thumb at center, with vertical and horizontal text; one pinhole, some smudging and minor creasing. This playbill announces General Tom Thumb's third and final performance at Egyptian Hall before leaving for the United States. The broadside employs a striking gimmick—its small size was used to emphasize Tom Thumb's stature, as it states "Reader! The General is exactly four times the length of the Bill you are reading." "At the same time that this playbill enticed the multitudes to see Tom Thumb, Benjamin Robert Haydon one of the most famous artists in England, exhibited his paintings in another room of Egyptian Hall ... however, with public interest in history painting waning, ... [he] did not attract the crowds, funds, or attention he hoped to garner. As Haydon witnessed the ever increasing crowds attending the General, he grew more and more depressed with his financial crisis deepening. He pled his case succinctly in an advertisement in the London Times: '... General Tom Thumb last week received 12,000 people, who paid him 600 pounds ... B.R. Haydon ... who has devoted 42 years to elevate their taste, was honored by the visits of 133 1/2,' which netted him a little more than five pounds. This comparison, although it did stir some controversy, did not produce the desired result. In May, still losing money, Haydon closed his show, and a few weeks later shot himself in the head. This too failed to produce the desired result, and so he then finished the job by slitting his throat with a razor. That Barnum and Tom Thumb were held responsible was reflected in an article in the Times of June 26: 'The display of a disgusting dwarf attracted hordes of gaping idiots, who poured in to the pockets of a Yankee showman a stream of wealth one tithe of which would have redeemed an honourable English artist from wretchedness and death.' The following week Tom Thumb ended his engagement at Egyptian Hall" (EE). REFERENCE:EE, 118Condition reportCondition as described in catalogue entry.
General Tom Thumb (Charles Sherwood Stratton)Egyptian Hall ... Farewell Levees of Gen Tom Thumb. London: T. Brettell, [1846] Letterpress playbill (157 x 106 mm). Engraved portrait of Tom Thumb at center, with vertical and horizontal text; one pinhole, some smudging and minor creasing. This playbill announces General Tom Thumb's third and final performance at Egyptian Hall before leaving for the United States. The broadside employs a striking gimmick—its small size was used to emphasize Tom Thumb's stature, as it states "Reader! The General is exactly four times the length of the Bill you are reading." "At the same time that this playbill enticed the multitudes to see Tom Thumb, Benjamin Robert Haydon one of the most famous artists in England, exhibited his paintings in another room of Egyptian Hall ... however, with public interest in history painting waning, ... [he] did not attract the crowds, funds, or attention he hoped to garner. As Haydon witnessed the ever increasing crowds attending the General, he grew more and more depressed with his financial crisis deepening. He pled his case succinctly in an advertisement in the London Times: '... General Tom Thumb last week received 12,000 people, who paid him 600 pounds ... B.R. Haydon ... who has devoted 42 years to elevate their taste, was honored by the visits of 133 1/2,' which netted him a little more than five pounds. This comparison, although it did stir some controversy, did not produce the desired result. In May, still losing money, Haydon closed his show, and a few weeks later shot himself in the head. This too failed to produce the desired result, and so he then finished the job by slitting his throat with a razor. That Barnum and Tom Thumb were held responsible was reflected in an article in the Times of June 26: 'The display of a disgusting dwarf attracted hordes of gaping idiots, who poured in to the pockets of a Yankee showman a stream of wealth one tithe of which would have redeemed an honourable English artist from wretchedness and death.' The following week Tom Thumb ended his engagement at Egyptian Hall" (EE). REFERENCE:EE, 118Condition reportCondition as described in catalogue entry.
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