Advertisement: Captain Costentenus, the Greek Albanian (verso)

Advertisement featuring Captain Costentenus, the Greek Albanian, tattooed from Head to Foot in Chinese Tartary as punishment for engaging in Rebellion against the King, now with P.T. Barnum. The advertisement features a detailed upper body portrait of Captain Costentenus showing him with dark hair parted in the center and a very full beard, his skin covered in dark tattoos of various wild animals, imaginatively drawn. The designs include lions and other wild cats, elephants, serpents, and various types of birds, with red dots creating patterns in the spaces between the animals Captain Costentenus, a man who was completely tattooed save for the soles of his feet. Barnum promoted him as having suffered the head to toe tattooing as a punishment at the hands of Chinese captors, but the story was fabricated. Costentenus was considered a medical curiosity in his day and was probably more heavily tattooed than any other person in his time period, though he was not the first tattooed person to exhibit himself. Barnum is best known for his involvement with the circus that still bears his name, but his circus ventures came about when he was in his 60s. The first show was called P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus. Railroads propelled the circus to success, making it easier to reach a number of locations, and the intake was significant. Barnum then opened the New York Hippodrome with similar acts. In the 1880s, he encountered competition from other circuses. A merger between Barnum's show and the Great London Show of Cooper, Bailey, and Hutchinson formed the Barnum and London Circus. Negotiations in 1887 formed the Barnum and Bailey circus. The name remained until 1919 when it became the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It came to an end in May 2017 when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus ceased performances after 146 years.