Freakshow. - 1869

Freakshow. - At Karlsplatz. Unheard of! Never seen before! The world-famous mouth artist. All the odd natural wonders seen so far are surpassed by the only mouth artist in the world who will have the honor of presenting her production for the first time in Munich. Munich, Deschler, 1869 or 1870. Poster with a small woodcut, depicting the "Mundkünstlerin". Page size: 42 x 15.5 cm.
The unnamed, allegedly 25-year-old woman was born without arms or legs, but could perform astonishingly precise "hand" work with her mouth, such as sewing, embroidery, crocheting, beadwork, and "even the most difficult patterns cut with the scissors in the mouth, the finest needle threaded, and the button made with the tongue." - It must be the "Mundkünstlerin" Gottliebe Bennona Schröder (1849-1918), even though the age given on the card differs from her actual age. From 1866 to the 1890s, Gottliebe toured with a showman who had discovered her in her Thuringian birthplace Irchwitz, across a wide range of fairs and markets in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, France, and Switzerland.