Bonassus. [London], ca. 1821. Letterpress broadside (trimmed), bearing a large and handsome wood-engraved image of the ?newly discovered animal? exhibited as part of James?s American Grand Menagerie. Trimmed to 13 ? x 10?. Partially mounted to an album page. Sold together with three contemporary letterpress handbills for exhibitions of the beast in London in the 1820s. Together, four items. See Jay?s Journal of Anomalies, V1 N3. A case of mistaken identity on purpose, the bonassus was billed as a new and distinct novelty, with ?the head and eye of the elephant; the horns of the antelope; a long black beard; the hind parts of the lion; the fore-parts of the bison; is cloven footed; has a flowing mane from the shoulder to the fetlock joint; and chews the cud.? All true, except for the fact that the animal was a buffalo and, at the time of writing, the species was one of the most populous quadrupeds on earth.