How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

Philadelphia, ca. 1792-93. Printed card, 2 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (63 x 95 mm). Ornamental letterpress border (Reilly 585, 652, and 784). Two-inch vertical closed tear in top right side; scattered wear along edges; toned and spotted.

A very early museum promotional card, advertising pioneering American museum proprietor and showman Daniel Bowen's (1760-1856) Philadelphia exhibition of wax-works and paintings.

Born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, Bowen served in the Revolutionary War under Captain Silas Talbot, and was captured by the British while serving aboard the privateer General Washington. After his release and the conclusion of the war, Bowen was inspired by the pioneering waxworks of Patience Wright, and began a career as a museum proprietor, showman, and artist. He acquired the Wright family's collection of figures and began touring the Atlantic coast in the late 1780s, exhibiting wax figures of prominent Americans and allegorical scenes.

In the fall of 1792, Bowen opened a museum at No. 9 Eighth Street in Philadelphia, located in the former home of English painter Robert Edge Pine. A friend of fellow Philadelphia museum owner Charles Willson Peale, Bowen's establishment advertised over 100 paintings (many by Pine) and 30 wax figures depicting "principal characters in America," including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Hancock. He also sold his own sculpted wax likenesses of President Washington.

Contemporary newspapers indicate that this Philadelphia exhibition closed in late 1793, likely so Bowen could concentrate on his new venture, the Columbian Museum in Boston, his most well-known endeavor. This institution cemented his reputation as one of America's earliest leading museum proprietors. Expanding the format of his Philadelphia show, the Columbian Museum eventually featured a vast array of curiosities and natural specimens, as well as hosting lectures, musical and dramatic performances, and circus-like acts. After enduring a series of fires and relocations, Bowen sold his interest in the museum in 1815 and retired.

Rare. While Evans lists two broadsides advertising Bowen's Columbian Museum, and ESTC locates one broadside for this Philadelphia exhibition, at Yale, neither (nor OCLC) locate promotional cards like the present example. Furthermore, according to RBH, we cannot locate other copies ever having been sold or offered at auction.