Booklet entitled Life of the Living Aztec Children; now exhibiting at Barnum American Museum 1860. Written by Pedro Velasquez This booklet, sold at the exhibition of Maximo Valdez Nunez and Bartola Velasquez, the titular Aztec Children. The exterior of the item is modern, used to make it easier to handle the delicate booklet within. On the tile page is an illustration of the two so-called Aztec children, with the one on the right giving a flower to the one on the left. In the middle of the two, seated on the floor, is another child. Contained within the booklet is an advertisement for Barnum's American Museum, and then an account of the so-called Aztec children. It goes on to describe their reputation in America as well. In truth, the Aztec children were really Maximo Valdez Nunez and Bartola Velasquez, a pair of siblings from El Salvador who were given away by their mother to a merchant who claimed that they would be educated, and then displayed for a number of years in various museums, human zoos, and circuses starting in the 1840s and falling off the record sometime in the 1860s to 1880s. Maximo and Bartola had what is today known as microcephaly, a condition that results in the brain not developing properly and impacting cognition, often leaving those with it with intellectual impairments. During the 1800s, those with microcephaly were often billed as pinheads, and displayed as missing links in the chain of Darwinian evolution, or else members of a lost race, as Maximo and Bartola were. Also featured in the book is the appearance of William Henry Johnson, who Barnum billed variously as "The What is It?" or else the "Missing Link" and "Zip the Pinhead." While it is debated presently if Johnson actually had microcephaly, his appearance on page 46 in the section entitled "The Erdmanniges; or, Earthmen of Africa" demonstrates how those with physical differences were used in discussions about human origins at the time. Both the Velasquez siblings and William Henry Johnson worked in Barnum's American Museum. That museum was located at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street from 1841 to 1865 until it was destroyed by a fire, and then moved to 539-541 Broadway until it too was destroyed by a fire in 1868. The displays in the museum ranged from dioramas of places such as Niagara falls and the American plains, various animals including whales and trained seals, wax figure tableaux, performers, theatrical performances, inventions, scientific specimens, and curious artifacts. Barnum included what were then called humbugs, or hoaxes, and invited the public to decide. Printed by Wynkoop, Hallenbeck and Thomas, 113 Fulton Street.