Up for sale is this rare antique cdv photo of Isaac W. Sprague, the Living Skeleton. The cdv is in good condition with some light wear and a little fading to the photo. It measures approximately 4 1/8 inches by 2 3/8 inches. Please look at the scans to further note the condition. Sprague (May 21, 1841 January 5, 1887) was an entertainer and sideshow performer, billed as the living human skeleton. He was born on May 21, 1841, in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Although normal for most of his childhood, Sprague began irreversibly losing weight at age 12 after feeling ill after swimming. The weight loss continued throughout his life despite having a healthy appetite. His condition has been described by historians as extreme progressive muscular atrophy. This ultimately led to his death. Isaac bounced around from job to job during early adulthood. He worked as both a cobbler for his father and a grocer. However, his illness kept him from continuing down either of those career paths. His parents died and Sprague could not work enough to support himself, so he was left unemployed. In 1865, he was offered a job at a circus sideshow, where he became known as “the Living Skeleton” or the Original Thin Man. The next year P. Barnum hired Sprague to work at his (newly reopened) American Museum. Sprague remembered the moment Barnum offered him the job: Mr. Barnum stood very near me, and I overheard him say to his agent,’Pretty lean man, where did you scare him up? Barnum’s Museum burned down in 1868 and Sprague managed to escape with his life. At this point, Sprague took time off to marry his wife, Tamar Moore. They had three sons who lived healthy, normal lives. Sprague made attempts to stay away from the sideshow, but he could not escape financial distress. It is rumored that in addition to being financially responsible for his wife and their three sons, Sprague had a gambling problem. His condition also kept him from finding real work anywhere other than Barnum’s. So he continued to tour off and on throughout the country and eventually overseas. By the age of 44, he was 5 feet and 6 inches tall with a weight of only 43 pounds. Sprague’s condition required him to be constantly taking in nutrients. His health was in such a poor state that he often carried milk in a flask around his neck. He would sip this from time to time to keep himself up and conscious. He died on January 5, 1887, in poverty, of asphyxia in Chicago, Illinois. Sprague was the first of many more Living Skeleton acts to come. In a result of forced promotion and work pressure, it was not uncommon for the Living Skeleton act to marry the Fat Lady act. The item “Antique LIVING SKELETON Circus Sideshow ISAAC W SPRAGUE Freak Thin Man CDV PHOTO” is in sale since Thursday, July 23, 2020. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Photographic Images\Vintage & Antique (Pre-1940)\CDVs”. The seller is “nevermore_antiques_and_books” and is located in Wallingford, Connecticut. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Original/Reprint: Original Print
• Time Period Manufactured: Vintage & Antique (Pre-1940)
• Subject: Celebrities & Musicians
• Date of Creation: 1870-1879
• Size Type/Largest Dimension: Small (Up to 7″)
• Region of Origin: US
• Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
• Photo Type: CDV
• Color: Sepia