(Fleas, Educated) | Bertolotto’s industrious fleas

(Fleas, Educated)

Signor Bertolotto’s Original Exhibition of the Educated Fleas. New York: New York Printorium, ca. 1876

Handbill (188 x 108 mm). Printed on yellow paper, numerous fonts, two engravings of performing fleas; old fold. Matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas; not examined out of frame.   

"Tiny fleas, performing a variety of astounding stunts while harnessed in fine wire, have been exhibited for centuries. It was apparently the harnessing itself that first elicited the most praise and attention… Although flea shows could, indeed, be deceptive (relying on mechanical apparatus rather than live fleas as the motive power), this one, and those presented by Barnum, were legitimate" (EE, p. 156).

REFERENCE:

Exemplars, p. 254; Jay, pp. 156-157