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African Lion Exhibit in 1802 Boston...
African Lion Exhibit in 1802 Boston...
Item # 722513
November 24, 1802
NEW YORK EVENING POST, Nov. 26, 1802
* African lion on display advertisement (notice)
The top of the front page has a notice for an exhibit of "The King Of Beasts" which includes details about the event and a woodcut of the African lion. Complete with all 4 pages, nice condition.
AI notes: In the early 1800s, New Yorkers could witness the rare spectacle of an African lion exhibited at a commercial venue, specifically at Store No. 23, next to the corner of Front Street at Beekman Slip, a bustling waterfront district in lower Manhattan. The lion, reportedly captured as a cub on the African island of Gorée, was brought across the Atlantic and publicly displayed as a curiosity, reflecting the city’s fascination with exotic wildlife long before the establishment of formal zoos. Advertisements for the exhibition highlighted the lion’s impressive size and demeanor, often emphasizing its tameness despite its wild origins, and encouraged visitors of all ages to attend. These shows were part of the broader phenomenon of traveling menageries, which combined education, entertainment, and spectacle, offering urban audiences one of the rare opportunities to encounter animals from distant continents firsthand. By situating such a majestic creature in an ordinary store rather than a dedicated zoological space, the exhibition illustrated both the novelty and accessibility of exotic animal displays in early American cities.
Category: Pre-Civil War
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