{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1734104"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1734104/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NJ2832/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NJ2832/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NJ2832","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1734104/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1734104","accessionNumber":"S.102-2023","objectType":"Handbill","titles":[{"title":"Handbill advertising General Tom Thumb","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838-1883), more widely known by his stage name General Tom Thumb, was a significant celebrity and performer in the history of 19th-century popular entertainment, both in the UK and worldwide. He was encouraged by the American showman, entrepreneur and businessman,  Phineas T. Barnum (1810-1891), to recite, sing and do comic impersonations dressed as various characters. Barnum took advantage of Stratton’s height, a result of his proportionate dwarfism, and engaged him to feature in a number  of his shows, exhibitions and tours. Stratton was a sensation when he appeared at London’s Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in 1844, and was invited for an audience with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace, where he also performed. His popularity in London and his depiction in numerous prints and publications says much for the insatiable appetite of the contemporary public for performers  from a variety of backgrounds, statures, and medical conditions, who were historically referred to using the derogatory term ‘curiosities’, due to their physical appearance. In 1863 Stratton married fellow performer Mercy Lavinia Warren, who also had a form of proportionate dwarfism. They continued touring and performing until Stratton's death following a stroke on 15 July 1883.\n\nBarnum was a consummate showman who took advantage of all possible means of advertising Tom Thumb's appearances, including posters, handbills, flyers and newspaper advertisements.This flyer is undated but it mentions the General's appearance in Alert Smith's <i>Hop o'My Thumb</i> at the Lyceum Theatre, and that play opened in March 1846.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Printed handbill or flyer advertising General Tom Thumb at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London, 1846, illustrated with an image of him standing on a Nursing Chair.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Brettell, Thomas","id":"A23711"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x38483"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"woodcut","id":"AAT53296"},{"text":"letterpress","id":"AAT178926"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Printing ink on paper; letterpress and woodcut","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Advertising","id":"THES49001"},{"text":"Printed pages & sheets","id":"THES48904"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2023NJ2832"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"FWK10","id":"THES49145"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"handbills","id":"AAT27033"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x46159"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1846","earliest":"1846-01-01","latest":"1846-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed","id":"x46159"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Michael Diamond","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"16.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"10.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Handbill advertising the Farewell Levees of General Tom Thumb (1838-1883) at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London, May or June 1846. Woodcut and letterpress printed by Thomas Brettell (1798-1867), 25 Rupert Street, Haymarket, 1846","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Stratton, Charles Sherwood","id":"N7473"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.102-2023"],"accessionNumberNum":"102","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2023,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-06-18","recordCreationDate":"2022-11-10","availableToBook":true}}