Accession No

4514

Brief Description

broadsheet advertisement announcing the microscope exhibitions of an itinerant showman, [Scottish?], c. 1740

Origin

[Edinburgh; Scotland]

Maker

Class

optical; ephemera; microscopes

Earliest Date

1740

Latest Date

1770

Inscription Date

Material

paper

Dimensions

breadth 168mm; height 213mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Roger Gaskell Rare Books on 23/06/1995.

Inscription

‘To the LOVERS of Natural Curiosity,
or Rational Amusement.

To be SEEN at Mr. Johnston’s Wig Ware-room, a little above the Guard North-side of the
High Street,

A VERY GOOD
DOUBLE REFLECTING
MICROSCOPE,

Being an Alteration and Improvement of Mr Culpepper’s, Mr Scarlet’s, and Mr Marshal’s, large double MICROSCOPE, improved and finished by the ingenious Mr CUFF, OPTICIAN to his present Majesty: The Person has also a good Collection of Objects, Insects, and Animalcula, proper for viewing, and will take great Care to oblige all that honour him with their Company.
The Use and Entertainment of this great Improver of natural Knowledge is well known to the curious, as introducing us into a new World, of which we could form no Idea without its Help [fold] particular, in regard to the Practice of this Instrument, would require Volume; therefore, I shall conclude with the Words of the Poet,

Why had not Man a MICROSCOPIC Eye?
For this plain Reason,—Man is not a Fly.

N.B. Attendance will be given at the foresaid House, from Nine in the Morning till Nine at Night; and Company may be waited on at their own Houses, or according to Direction. The Use of this Instrument, by proper Application, is equally entertaining by Candle Light, as by Day.
Also Microscopes, Telescopes, and all other Instruments or Machines repaired, and Sliders
for Microscopes neatly fitted up by the same Person.

And, for the further Entertainment of the Curious, will be introduced, as a separate Affair,

The inimitable Master Jemmy Closong;

Who is no more than eleven Years of Age.—This Youth surprisingly imitates (without the Help of any Instrument) to very great Perfection, the Notes or Songs of the following Birds, viz. the Brown Linnet, the Blackbird, the Sky Lark, ascending and descending, the Robin Redbreast as at the Appearance of Day in a Winter’s Morning, the Thrush, and several others too tedious to mention.—And, for the still further Amusement of the Spectators, he likewise introduces a Skirmish between two Dogs and Two Cats, as natural as if the real Animals were in the Room; which greatly heightens the Diversion of the Audience.

Our Stay in Town will be but short.

By Permission of the Magistrates.’

Description Notes

Broadsheet advertisement announcing the microscope exhibitions of an itinerant showman and microscope / telescope repairman, [Scottish?], c. 1740.

Issued by an unnamed itinerant showman, the broadsheet is advertised ‘To the Lovers of Natural Curiosity, or Rational Amusement’, and announces that the showman has ‘a good Collection of Objects, Insects, and Animalcula, proper for viewing’ with ‘A Very Good Double Reflecting Microscope … by the ingenious Mr Cuff’. The location of this show ("Mr. Johnston’s Wig Ware-room, a little above the Guard North-side of the High Street") places this show most probably in Edinburgh in the mid 1740s.

The broadsheet also announces the performance of a boy, trained in the art of imitating songbirds.

The full text of the broadsheet reads as follows:

"To the LOVERS of Natural Curiosity,
or Rational Amusement.

To be SEEN at Mr. Johnston’s Wig Ware-room, a little above the Guard North-side of the
High Street,

A VERY GOOD
DOUBLE REFLECTING
MICROSCOPE,

Being an Alteration and Improvement of Mr Culpepper’s, Mr Scarlet’s, and Mr Marshal’s, large double MICROSCOPE, improved and finished by the ingenious Mr CUFF, OPTICIAN to his present Majesty: The Person has also a good Collection of Objects, Insects, and Animalcula, proper for viewing, and will take great Care to oblige all that honour him with their Company.
The Use and Entertainment of this great Improver of natural Knowledge is well known to the curious, as introducing us into a new World, of which we could form no Idea without its Help [fold] particular, in regard to the Practice of this Instrument, would require Volume; therefore, I shall conclude with the Words of the Poet,

Why had not Man a MICROSCOPIC Eye?
For this plain Reason,—Man is not a Fly.

N.B. Attendance will be given at the foresaid House, from Nine in the Morning till Nine at Night; and Company may be waited on at their own Houses, or according to Direction. The Use of this Instrument, by proper Application, is equally entertaining by Candle Light, as by Day.
Also Microscopes, Telescopes, and all other Instruments or Machines repaired, and Sliders
for Microscopes neatly fitted up by the same Person.

And, for the further Entertainment of the Curious, will be introduced, as a separate Affair,

The inimitable Master Jemmy Closong;

Who is no more than eleven Years of Age.—This Youth surprisingly imitates (without the Help of any Instrument) to very great Perfection, the Notes or Songs of the following Birds, viz. the Brown Linnet, the Blackbird, the Sky Lark, ascending and descending, the Robin Redbreast as at the Appearance of Day in a Winter’s Morning, the Thrush, and several others too tedious to mention.—And, for the still further Amusement of the Spectators, he likewise introduces a Skirmish between two Dogs and Two Cats, as natural as if the real Animals were in the Room; which greatly heightens the Diversion of the Audience.

Our Stay in Town will be but short.

By Permission of the Magistrates."

Condition poor (bottom left corner missing, frayed and torn edges); incomplete.

References

Boris Jardine; 'Public microscope shows in the 18th century'; Explore Whipple Collections online article; Whipple Museum of the History of Science; University of Cambridge; 2006: https://www.whipplemuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-whipple-collections/microscopes/public-microscope-shows-18th-century

Events