Description

[001958] [Chang]. Cabinet Card of Chang the Chinese Giant. London: London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company. First Edition. 16mo. Unbound. Cabinet Card. Fair. Photographic cabinet card of Chang (Zhan Shichai), approximately 110mm x 165mm in size, n.d. c.1880?

Slightly creased across photographic image from the left hand edge to about an inch across, just catching the chest of Chang, heavy vertical crease to centre of card leaving it bowed.

An attractive image of Chang and an unknown man, the reverse is printed with the details of the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company, with written details of Chang’s size, age and weight, (above 8 feet high, 33 years old and 26 stones in weight) with Chinese characters to either side.

Chang apparently had acromegaly, and was advertised as ‘standing nearly nine feet high in his stocking feet’ (Bogdan, Freak Show, page 99), according to Wikipedia he retired in 1878 and lived out the rest of days in Bournemouth, but there is a Times article from 1880 noting that he is appearing with Brustad and Che-Mah at the Aquarium in London.

For the London Stereoscopic Company see Hannavy, Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, pages 870-872