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Now Exhibiting at 509 Broadway, and to remain But a Short Period, the Gigantic Giraffe, or Camelopard, the Gensbok, or Ibex of the Egyptians, Eland, the Largest of the Antelope Tribe, Also the Bontibok and the Syrian Goat, Neither of Which Were Ever Before Brought to the Continent of America, and But Rarely Seen in Any Part of the Civilized World.
[New York]: August 25, 1838. Illustrated circular, 12” x 9.375”. 4 pp. CONDITION: Good, light foxing, toning along old folds, document tape repairs and reinforcements to inner spine fold. A rare and marvelously illustrated circular published for the New York exhibition of the first giraffes to set hoof in the United States, describing the animals’ physiques and life in the African savanna as well as the process of capturing, taming, and transporting them. Two giraffes—the only survivors in a group of eleven initially captured by John Clayton, a Scottish-born agent of the American-founded “Zoological Institute”—arrived in New York from Cape Town aboard the bark Prudent on June 7th, 1838. One, a female, was exhibited at 509 Broadway, and the circular offered here, published in late August, warns that the magnificent creature would “remain but a short period” longer before “it will become necessary to remove her to the most Southern States” to protect her from the cold. A brief account of the giraffe in history, from its being “known to the Persians…several centuries before the Christian Era” to “the specimen now exhibited…by Macomber, Welch & Co.,” is followed by an enthusiastically articulate description of the animal itself: The front aspect of this creature, presenting an orbicular, double convex chest, resting upon its long perpendicular legs, and surmounted by a soaring neck which bears the creature’s gentle and vivaciously expressive head high above its wondering beholders, the privileged occupant of a loftier sphere of vision, is unique and striking.…Its tongue is very long and black, coated with a hard impervious skin, and possessing a tapering contractibility, admirably adapted to its gathering its favorite food from among the involved and formidably prickly branches of the mimosa. An account of its mild temperament and “valor” in self defense (“Although timid at the approach of men…such is a blow from its extremely long legs, that it has been known to split the skull of a lion in pieces”) transitions into an almost blow-by-blow narration of its capture. The hunter, on horseback, spurs forward, with his lasso, or noosed rope, ready coiled…He soon finds that the immense strides of his noble game are leaving him far behind, and he has recourse to the stratagem which his experience has taught him is indispensable to success. In common with all other wild and timid animals, when pursued, the Giraffes direct their course to the windward. The hunter, aware of this, turns his horse three or four points from the line of their course, as if intending to pass them far ahead; and thus, whilst they keep their eye upon him as the pursued rather than the pursuer, they insensibly approach him—the diagonal line of his course converging to them; and he comes into the midst of the herd, notwithstanding their superior speed…If the hunter has well husbanded the strength of his horse, he now dashes toward some particular Giraffe—always selecting the smallest—which he hopes to capture; and throwing the noose of his lasso over its head, instantly leaps from his horse, before the Giraffe has run out the length of the long coil…The first full tension of the rope, tightens the noose round the neck; every struggle increases the suffocating pressure, and the captive falls back upon his haunches and reels to the ground. The hunter, still keeping the rope moderately strained, approaches the exhausted animal, leaps astride its head, and using its long neck as a lever for the control of its body, firmly holds the creature down until the Hottentot achter rider, who has perchance been thrown out of the chase, comes up with other cords to bind the captive for its destination… Illustrations show two giraffes browsing in their native habitat, on the point of being captured (separated from its herd, its neck about to be encircled by its pursuer’s flying lasso), and in the early stages of captivity. This last image is captioned “view of the encampment and mode of domesticating the giraffe,” showing two giraffes confined in deep pits, a herd of oxen penned to the right, soon to be drawing the giraffes’ tall carts from the place of capture to Cape of Good Hope.” The first giraffes to survive the trauma of capture and arduous journey over land and sea were taken at “Lat. 25 30 S. and Lon. 25 E”—a remote area in what is now South Africa, just south of the border with Botswana. The final illustration, captioned “Mode of travelling with the giraffe from the interior to the Cape of Good Hope,” shows a giraffe feeding from its lofty, ox-drawn wagon and accompanied by several handlers. Brief descriptions of the “Gensbok,” “Bontibok,” and “Syrian Goat” (the first two of which stand peacefully alongside the giraffes in the first illustration), as well as a note from the proprietors, close the circular. No examples of this circular, advertising the New York exhibit, in OCLC. Six similar examples, at Harvard, the New York Historical Society, Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, Brown University, and the Wellcome Collection in London, announce exhibits in Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, and Charleston. A delightful illustrated circular marking a “high point” in the history of American menageries. REFERENCES: “The spectacular giraffes on display on Broadway” at Ephemeral New York online.
Item #10277
Price: $2,500.00
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