A lovely survival from the period when discoveries from the both the New World and Old were of great interest to the English public.
The short text clarifies their appearance, exaggerated but nonetheless consistent with Albinism: “their Eyes are of a pale red Colour; their Eye-brows, Eye-lashes and Beards is perfectly White, as is the hair on their Head … the Skin on their Head is of a fine pink Colour; they are remarkably fair and ruddy.” To add credence to the show, this advertisement notes that they had “the Honor to be presented to Sir Joseph Banks, who was pleas’d to express his surprise and admiration, and at the same time, with other Gentlemen learned in Natural History, pronounced them a perfect and new variety of Men.”
The brothers were active in the late eighteenth century. They not only made tours of the English countryside, but kept apartments in Charing Cross from where they made, and received, visits to the aristocracy. They even took out advertisements in papers such as the London World (see the issue for 30 April 1789, L1).
This is particularly interesting as these brothers appear to have control of their whole operation. There’s no mention of a manager in the style of P.T. Barnum, or of them being part of a larger show under another’s control.
