For a pub in Lambeth-Marsh, London, there is an undated newspaper advertisement of a rhinoceros of 18 years old with year – 1756 added by a collector (source 7851). There is a broadsheet undated with age 18 years (source 7852). A library listed a broadsheet with date 1756 (source 7853).
Source 7851. Advertisement in unknown newspaper, 1756
Advertisement in London publication
Magazine / Newspaper unknown
Date unknown, only 1756 added in manuscript
Age of rhinoceros stated to be 18 years
John Johnson collection of printed ephemera, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Animals on show 2 (52c)
https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/24dde4e0-dd22-4940-aa55-ee9036125fdc/
* John de Monins Johnson (1882–1956) was an English papyrologist, printer of the Oxford English Dictionary, and collector.
English text of advertisement:
The surprising great animal, called Rhinoceros, alive, being the only one of that kind in Europe; its nose is armed with a horn to fight the elephant, whose conqueror it generally is; its hide is covered with shells, and he looks like a man in armour; its paws are short and thick, like the elephant; it can swim and dive like a duck; was brought over from Bengal, is as tame as a lamb, being caught very young, and for two years has run round the tables of gentlemen and ladies like a lap-dog. This animal consumes daily 70 pounds of hay, and 25 pounds of bread, drinks 14 pails of water, is 18 years of age, 12 feet thick, and of 6000 pounds weight.
The Royal Family, and nobility and gentry, have seen this animal with great satisfaction. This creature may be seen from eight in the morning till six, at 2s the first place, 1s the second, and 6d the third, in a tent at the Horse and Groom in Lambeth Marsh.
Source 7852. Broadsheet of Dutch Rhinoceros, with age 18 years
Broadsheet. Woodcut. Unsigned. Size not recorded
Rhinoceros on top facing right, within a black border (which has two gaps on right and one on lower edge). Title in 5 lines, with name Rinoceros. English text of 19 lines plus local information of 4 lines. In text, Clara said to be 18 years old
Example:
- Glasgow, University, Hunterian Library, At.1.15
https://www.gla.ac.uk/collections/#/details?irn=340006&catType=C (Catalogue Hunterian Library, p.31a)
Literature:
- Rookmaaker 1978: 31, no. 6.2. – not illustrated – (said to date 1751-1752 because no evidence otherwise for 1756)
- Clarke 1986:63-64, fig. 27c – illustrated
- Rookmaaker & Monson 2000, no. 6 – not illustrated
- Faust 2003: 110-111, no. 718.10 – illustrated
- Grigson 2016, Menagerie, p.58 – not illustrated
Text of woodcut
To be seen, at the Horse and Groom in Lambeth-Marsh,
the Surprising, Great and Noble animal called
Rinoceros alive.
Being, as a great many people think, the same animal of which we read in the 40th chapter of Job, the 15th verse, and in the Dutch Bible the 10th verse, where he is called Behemoth, this animal being the only one of that kind in all Europe, and of such a wonderful shape, that the wisdom and power of the creator of these animals appears in it with all brightness and splendor. This animal is of a dark brown colour, has no hairs but on the ears and the end of the tail; its nose is armed with a horn to fight the elephant, whose conqueror it generally is; its eyes are in proportion to his limbs, very small; its hide is covered with shells, which lay a hand breadth one over another; and indeed nature has furnished him so that he looks like a man in armour; its paws are short and thick like the elephant, with three claws; it can swim and dive like a duck, and in the heat of the day he will lay himself down under the shadow of trees in the mud; when it drinks it is natural for it to clear the water, in case it is not good, so that the other creatures are obliged to wait till the Rinoceros has drank.
This Rinoceros was caught in Asia, in the dominions of the Great Mogul, and brought over from Bengal into Holland. This animal is as tame as a lamb, because it was caught very young, and for two years successively has run round the tables of gentlemen and ladies like a lap-dog. The said animal consumes every day 70 pounds of hay, and 25 pounds of bread, and drinks 14 pails of water: It is at present 18 years of age, 12 feet thick, and 6000 pounds weight.
The Royal Family, and the Nobility and Gentry have seen this animal with great admiration and satisfaction. This creature may be seen from eight o’clock in the morning till six in the evening, even if there is but one person at a time, so that nobody need to wait, at one shilling the first place, and sixpence the second. It is to be seen in a tent, where there is a way for coaches to come up.
Source 7853. Reference to broadsheet with date
* William Harrison (1831-1879) of Samlesbury Hall
Harrison, William 1866. A descriptive catalogue of a collection of Shakespeariana; consisting of manuscripts, books and relics, illustrative of the life and writings of Shakespeare, in the library of William Harrison, Esq. of Galligreaves Hall, near Blackburn, and Samlesbury Hall, near Preston, Lancashire. London, Thomas Richards.
[p.100] LVIII. Shaksperian Gatherings, a quarto volume containing, amongst other scraps: (f) broadside about a rhinoceros, 1756.
[* the book is a list of items, has no further information of what happened to them]
