(CIRCUS) — Eli Bowen. Le Phénomène de l'Univers.

No place or publisher, but probably Belgium or France, about 1890. 21 x 13 cm. 4 p. All French text on blue paper. Portrait on first page. Fine condition. Added: a window bill (white paper, 23 x 29 cm) with large lettering advertising this 'Biographie', it cost only 10 centimes. Vertical fold and some marginal tears. Very rare ephemera about circus artist Eli Bowen (1841-1924), the Seal Man From America, who was born without legs and measured only 61 cm, his feet growing directly from his body. Bowen was a man of the circus for all his life, touring not only his native USA but also Europe, and used his genetic defect to earn a lot of money, marry and bring up four sons. Ephemeral rarity, not in Worldcat.