Fantastic vintage original matte-finish full-length portrait photo, 7" x 10.75,” of William Cody (Buffalo Bill) in a suit and tie whilst sitting and holding a book. Photographer notation inherent to the photo, at bottom right reads “C. 1927 by F. J. Hiscock,” rendering this a posthumously produced portrait photograph. In fine condition, with some wear to borders, not at all affecting the image of Cody. An interesting and uncharacteristically dapper and reserved image of the ‘Wild West’ superstar.
Accompanied by a brown matte, 10” x 12,” perfectly sized to house this wonderful photo. At the turn of the twentieth century, William F. Cody was known as "the greatest showman on the face of the earth". Cody had full domination of the Wild West show business. In 1883, Cody created what would become "Buffalo Bill’s Wild West", a grand performance that propelled him to fortune and worldwide fame. The "Wild West" was staged, in one form or another, for thirty years, playing to enthusiastic crowds throughout the United States and Europe. By the turn of the twentieth century, William F. Cody was arguably the most famous American in the world. No one symbolized the West for Americans and Europeans better than Buffalo Bill. Every American president from Ulysses S. Grant to Woodrow Wilson consulted him on matters affecting the American West. He counted among his friends such artists and writers as Frederic Remington and Mark Twain. He was honored by royalty, praised by military leaders, and feted by business tycoons. Cody was America’s ideal man: a courtly, chivalrous, self-made fellow who could shoot a gun and charm a crowd. Yet as Annie Oakley put it, “He was the simplest of men, as comfortable with cowboys as with kings.”