Bonassus.- Kangaroos.- [J. Ea]rl James & Son's Royal Collection of Wild Beasts...the Newly Discovered Royal Bonassus...Nero the Dog-Destroying Male Lion...the Lilliputian Ox!!!...Astonishing Family of Kangaroos..., loss to top left corner affecting some text, some light surface soiling, folds, partially laid down on album leaf, 752 x 232mm., Cheltenham, J.J. Hadley, [c.1821] § Patronized by Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Caroline!...Just arrived from the Northern Wilds of America...a stupendous Male Bonassus..., printing flaw affecting line of text, slightly toned with some faint spotting, some light creasing, 413 x 167mm., Lowndes, [c.1821], printed playbills; and another copy of the second mentioned, v.s. (3)
⁂ "The Bonassus, according to contemporary handbills, had been captured as a six-week-old cub deep in the interior of America...Using every conceivable method of prevarication, the playbills of the day unabashedly concealed the true identity of this 'newly discovered' Bonassus, this 'new genus' of the animal kingdom never before seen in England. He was none other than the American buffalo" - Ricky Jay, "The Bonassus: Verbal Deception Deciphered" in Jay's Journal of Anomalies (New York, 2003), pp.17-23.
A limited number of printed catalogues are available to purchase for this auction.
UK: £35 (incl. postage)
Rest of World: £50 (incl. postage)
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