Details:

Frederic Fadner signed first edition hardcover copy of The Gentleman Giant: The Biography of Robert Pershing Wadlow. Published by Bruce Humphries, Inc., Boston, 1944. Fadner has signed the title page in blue ink. Accompanied by an original vintage real photo postcard depicting Robert Wadlow standing beside another man, dramatically illustrating the extraordinary height of the world’s tallest documented person. Also laid in is an original advertising card from Coleman’s Shoe Store of Springdale, Arkansas, one of the businesses that supplied specially made footwear for Wadlow during his lifetime.

Very good condition. The signed first edition remains internally clean with a sound binding. The original dust jacket is present and displays expected edge wear, chipping, and minor losses. The accompanying vintage real photo postcard exhibits expected age toning, corner wear, and handling, while the Coleman’s Shoe Store advertising card shows age-related toning and wear.

Robert Pershing Wadlow (1918-1940), known as the “Gentle Giant,” remains the tallest person in recorded medical history, reaching a documented height of 8 feet 11.1 inches (272 cm). His exceptional growth was caused by hyperplasia of the pituitary gland, resulting in unusually high levels of human growth hormone. Despite his remarkable stature, Wadlow was widely admired for his gentle personality and gracious public demeanor while traveling throughout the United States as a goodwill ambassador for the International Shoe Company. He died at the age of twenty-two following complications from an infected leg brace, but continues to be remembered as one of the most extraordinary figures in medical history.

Frederic Fadner’s The Gentleman Giant, published just four years after Wadlow’s death and produced with the assistance of his father, Harold F. Wadlow, remains the definitive contemporary biography of Robert Wadlow. The inclusion of the original vintage real photo postcard and the Coleman’s Shoe Store advertising card provides additional period context directly connected to the life and legacy of the famed “Gentle Giant.”

Authentication:
Includes a full letter of authenticity from JG Autographs, Inc.

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Reference sku: 11692 1416967-1