Kirby’s Eccentric Museum
I am very grateful to have met collector Mike Henbrey because among the wonders he introduced me to was Kirby’s Eccentric Museum
John Biggs was born in 1629 and lived in Denton in the county of Bucks in a cave
This wonderful boy, who in early age outstripped all former calculators, was born in Morton Hampstead on 14th June 1806
In Mme Lefort the sexes are so equally blended that it is impossible to say which has predominance
This gentleman was a bookseller in Upper Marylebone St, remembered today as Shelley’s bookseller
The parachute here represented was used by Monsieur Garnerin at his ascension in London
Thomas Cooke was born in 1726 at Clewer near Windsor as the son of an itinerant fiddler
Robert Coates Esq, commonly called ‘The Amateur of Fashion’
The giant Basilio Huaylas came in May 1792 from the town of Joa to Lima and publicly exhibited himself
Mr James Toller and Mr Simon Paap are presumed to be the tallest shortest men in the kingdom
Miss McAvoy, who distinguished colours by the touch, was born in Liverpool on 28th June 1800
Mr Hermans Bras, designated the gigantic Prussian Youth, was born at Tecklenbourg in 1801
Thomas Laugher, aged 111 years, and known by the name of Old Tommy
Petratsch Zortan in the 185th year of his age, he died on 5th January 1724
John Rovin in the 172nd & Sarah his wife in the 164th year of their respective ages
The turnip represented in the plate grew in 1628
The parsnip here represented grew in 1742
The radish here represented was found in 1557 in Haarlem
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Mike Henbrey, Collector of Books, Epherema & Tools
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Excellent stuff! I particularly love Mademoiselle Lefort and think the Signora Josephine looks a bit ‘trans’ too..
Fantastic, fabulkous collection. Thanks.
This reminds me of another collector of the ‘wonderful’: https://bit.ly/2D5qxqp
Great article. I live a few miles from where the Hermit in the first picture lived (Dinton, rather than Denton) and there is a curious tale connected with why he was a hermit.
His name was John Bigg and lived from 1629 to 1696. The story goes that he was possibly the executioner of King Charles the first. His friend, the MP Simon Mayne lived at Dinton Hall and was one of the MP’s who signed Charles’s death warrant. When the monarchy was restored, Mayne was sentenced to death for his part in the execution, but died in the Tower of London before his appeal was heard.
John Bigg, fearing a similar fate, or feeling remorse at his part in the death of the king, became the hermit, living in a cave under Dinton Hall.
He began to make his own clothes, mostly from leather. He would take donations of food, but only ever asked for scraps of leather, which he used to repair his hand made shoes. These shoes eventually made their way into the Ashmolian Museum in Oxford, where they remain to this day.