Müller, Quirin | "... who lifted six men, the same weight with his teeth, and an additional two hundred pounds suspended from his shoulders"

Müller, Quirin

[A Great Herculean-Athletic-Academic Art and Strength Demonstration]. Mannheim: G. Schmelzer, [ca. 1848]

Letterpress playbill (589 x 511 mm). Three woodcut vignettes of Müller's feats of strength to upper corners and foot; six old folds, a little loss to right margin, creasing with a small closed tear at center. Matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas.

This playbill features Quirin Müller, who "lifted six men, the same weight with his teeth, and an additional two hundred pounds suspended from his shoulders" and his band of strongmen performers, including Louis Frederic (EE). In addition to feats of strength, the event featured a theatrical performance of Milo of Croton's wrestling triumphs, tableaux vivants, and a fencing duel.

"Müller personalized the large and impressive playbill ... with a challenge: ‘That I may have the honor of showing my prowess in Boxing on the great stage … I thus invite all strong men from here and the vicinity to present themselves and to wrestle with me; you will be given assurance that nothing bad will happen to you, and whoever defeats me in wrestling will be given a prize of 500 Francs. … A prize of 50 Francs will be awarded to whoever can pull me two strides from where I stand while I hold a rope firmly in my teeth.” In what seems to be a modern touch, Muller ended his text by extending the same offer of 50 francs ‘to whoever can beat me at arm wrestling’” (EE).

REFERENCE:

EE, p. 122