Sandow; The Mighty Monarch of Muscle
Newark, New Jersey: Gerard Nisivoccia, 1947. Special Memorial Edition, Commemorating 80th Anniversary of the birth of Eugen Sandow [This appears to be the First Edition also]. Wraps. 63, [3] pages, including covers. Cover has wear, soiling and scuffing. Includes a brief Introduction, as well as 54 full page black and white images of Eugen Sandow, focusing on his physique. This is a Special Memorial Edition, Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Birth of Eugen Sandow, April 2nd, 1947; Fully Illustrated from Photos Culled by the Author. The author was a self-described Physical Strength Historian. Sandow has been the most publicized, the most lionized, the most popular, and the most imitated of all strongmen. His triumphs in feats of strength over Cyclops and Samson in 1889 made him the athletic idol of Great Britain, and, later, of the entire world, which gazed in wonder at his beautiful body and marveled at his feast of super-strength. His example started the rage of muscle cult, and the modern boom towards physical improvement the world over. Newark, New Jersey played an unheralded role in the development of physique culture, with self-declared “Physical Strength Historian” Gerard Nisivoccia’s self-published Sandow: The Mighty Monarch of Muscle offering an entire book’s worth of often naked, openly erotic photographs of the famous strongman in 1947. Nisivoccia corresponded with groundbreaking sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, helping him obtain obscure physical-culture print media. Eugen Sandow (born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller German: [2 April 1867 – 14 October 1925) was a Prussian bodybuilder and showman. Born in Königsberg, Sandow became interested in bodybuilding at the age of ten during a visit to Italy. After a spell in the circus, Sandow studied under strongman Ludwig Durlacher in the late 1880s. On Durlacher's recommendation, he began entering strongman competitions, performing in matches against leading figures in the sport such as Charles Sampson, Frank Bienkowski, and Henry McCann. In 1901 he organized what is believed to be the world's first major body building competition. Set in London's Royal Albert Hall, Sandow judged the event alongside author Arthur Conan Doyle and athlete/sculptor Charles Lawes-Wittewronge. Florenz Ziegfeld wanted to display Sandow at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and Ziegfeld found that the audience was more fascinated by Sandow's bulging muscles than by the amount of weight he was lifting, so Ziegfeld had Sandow move in poses which he dubbed "muscle display performances" ... and the legendary strongman added these displays in addition to performing his feats of strength with barbells. He added chain-around-the-chest breaking and other colorful displays to Sandow's routine, and Sandow quickly became Ziegfeld's first star. In 1894, Sandow was featured in a short film series by the Edison Studios. The film was of only part of his act and featured him flexing his muscles rather than performing any feats of physical strength. In 1894, Sandow also appeared in a short Kinetoscope film that became the part of the first commercial motion picture exhibition in history. He opened the first of his Institutes of Physical Culture, where he taught methods of exercise, dietary habits and weight training. His ideas on physical fitness were novel at the time and had a tremendous impact. The Sandow Institute was an early gymnasium that was open to the public for exercise. In 1898 he also founded a monthly periodical, originally titled Physical Culture and subsequently renamed Sandow's Magazine of Physical Culture that was dedicated to all aspects of physical culture. This was accompanied by a series of books published between 1897 and 1904 – the last of which coined the term 'bodybuilding' in the title (as "body-building"). He worked hard at improving exercise equipment, and had invented various devices such as rubber strands for stretching and spring-grip dumbbells to exercise the wrists. In 1901, Sandow organized the world's first major bodybuilding competition in London's Royal Albert Hall. The venue was so full that people were turned away from the door. The three judges presiding over the contest were Sir Charles Lawes the sculptor, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the author, and Sandow himself. At his own expense, from 1909 he provided training for would-be recruits to the Territorial Army, to bring them up to entrance fitness standards, and did the same for volunteers for active service in World War I. He was even designated special instructor in physical culture to King George V, who had followed his teachings, in 1911. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Eugen Sandow, Strongman, Physique, Pictorial works, Friedrich Wilhelm Muller, Bodybuilding, Physical Culture, Poses, Modeling, Muscular Posing, Classical Posing, Muscle Control, Florenz Ziegfeld, Thomas Edison, Anatomist
[Book #81810]
Price: $175.00