(Strong Women, Germany) | An anchor balancing act from two unnamed strongwomen

(Strong Women, Germany)

Zwei Starke Dames... [Germany: ca. 1821]

Letterpress broadside playbill (352 x 198 mm). Printed in German within a decorative border, large central woodcut depicting a woman with anchors suspended from her hair and mouth; not examined out of frame, some very minor spotting. Matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas.

Johann Engelbert, an impresario from Prague exhibiting in Germany in 1821, offered to a "Noble and Notable Public, Two Strong Ladies Never before Presented Here." The young strongwomen displayed different skills, translated from the broadside's German: "The First Lady will lift 900 pounds of weight, consisting of two ship's anchors with her hair from the ground and a third anchor with her mouth... The second Lady will lay across two chairs where it may be seen that she has her head on one chair and her feet on the other so that her entire body remains free while a 1,000 pound weigh will be placed upon her that she will balance with her unbelievable strength." 

REFERENCE:

Exemplars, p. 219; EE, pp. 78-79