The Life and Travels of Mrs. Gen. Tom Thumb (Countess Magri) and Biographical Sketch of Count and Baron Magri. [with] Ten CDVs of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb [with] Calling Card of Countess M. Lavinia Magri (Mrs. General Tom Thumb).

Seattle, Washington / (various): The Pioneer Show Printing Company / (various), [1907] and circa 1860s. Booklet: 6 x 4 ¾ inches, [20]pp + wrappers. CDVs: approx. 4 x 2 ½ inches, some with printing, signatures, and in one case, a bookseller label to verso. Calling card: 2 ¼ x 3 ¼ inches. Light soiling and toning; horizontal fold to booklet throughout; triangle of loss to image of one CDV. Good or better overall.

Collection of material on Mercy Lavinia Warren Stratton Magri (1841-1919), aka Mrs. General Tom Thumb, one of the most famous little people and performers of the 19th century. Born Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump in Middleborough, Massachusetts, Magri began performing as a miniature dancing chanteuse at the age of 16, using the stage name Lavinia Warren. Four years later, she was introduced to Charles Sherwood Stratton, a little person who performed under the name of Tom Thumb; the two married in 1863, in an elaborate and highly publicized wedding that one of the CDVs in this group calls a “fairy wedding” and others termed “Lilliputian”. Although the couple pretended to have a child, even posing in some of these CDVs with a baby, perhaps in part to counter the perception of them by audiences as being “childlike” themselves (a perception promoted by their publicists to garner sympathy for the pair), they never did have children. In 1883, Charles Stratton died of a stroke at the age of 45, and two years later Lavinia married Count Primo Magri, another little person who performed widely. We date the booklet in this collection to 1907 based on a mention of the Magris’ silver wedding anniversary being due “three years hence”.

The booklet includes a biographical account of Lavinia’s life, her travels around the world with Stratton, often being exhibited before various royal personages, her relationship with the Magri brothers, Primo and Ernest, and her marriage to Primo. It includes two b&w illustrations, including one that appears to be of Charles, Lavinia, and Primo, and is quite scarce: we locate no copies in OCLC or other digital repositories, and none currently on the market. The calling card is equally unusual, and we find none others like it online. The CDVs include images of the Lavinia and Charles at their wedding, posed in fine dress, as a family group with “their” child, and Lavinia alone holding a baby. Two of the CDVs have signatures on the verso. 

All in all, a representative collection of material that demonstrates the public persona and remarkable life of Lavinia Magri.