Seaman, Charles Edwin | Dwarf ventriloquist

Seaman, Charles Edwin

A Sketch of Seaman's Life, the Well-Known Ventriloquist … Also, a Lecture on the Nature and Powers of Ventriloquy, with His Reasons for Abandoning the Practice. Chambersburg, Pa.: T. J. Wright, [after April 1840]

12mo (178 x 108 mm). Stabbed and stitched; top margins frayed and upper corners dog-eared, browned and stained throughout. Red cloth folding-case.

A rare pamphlet describing Seaman's emigration in 1830 from Bristol, England, to the United States. Seaman was not only a ventriloquist but was a dwarf as well. The pamphlet contains a brief biography in which Seaman describes himself: "At fifteen … I was grown to my full height, viz. four feet ... At length I was obliged to walk with crutches, as my body was too heavy for my legs; although I had but one joint pliable to each finger, yet I could write about the second best in the city."

Incorporated into the text are newspaper notices, most from Pennsylvania, dated between 1837 and 1840, testifying to his superior talent as a ventriloquist.