Bogardus Souvenir Cabinet Card of Col. Ruth Goshon. 
Age, 43 years. Weight, 620 Lbs. Height, 7 feet 11 inches.

This very rare cabinet card of one of the great stars of the Barnum circus was in a recent trove of cabinet cards.  Col. Ruth Goshon, also known as the Middlebush Giant, stands between two men of average height. Goshon is clad in his uniform and high helmet, which makes him appear even taller. The card looks hand tinted, with pale traces of green and red. Under the photograph, in red type: COL. RUTH GOSHON, Age, 43 years. Weight, 620 lbs. Height, 7 feet 11 inches. Goshon served in the Crimean and Mexican wars, was spotted, apparently, by P.T. Barnum on the street and hired in an instant, was married three times, and died in 1889 at the age of 52.

The standing man looking up at Goshon is leaning on a studio table.

Goshon's hands are as big as the onlooker's head, and his walking stick goes up to the man's armpit. There was no doubt about the sense of scale this photograph was set up to convey. But there is something oddly detached, possibly lonely, about Goshon's gaze.

The statistics of a circus star. Throughout Goshon's career, these changed — they rose, they fell, they may have been an exaggeration. According to the Wiki bio, they were.

Another look at the entire card.

On the back it appears that the giant himself autographed it, and then someone else had the idea of labeling it as well.

This was a Bogardus Souvenir Card. Bogardus was a successful photo studio in New York City. The logo here, of letters contained in an ornate painter's palette, makes the link between photographs and art, between the photography studio and the painter's studio, and may also have referred to the hand tinting done to some cards. There's also writing on the bottom of the card, in fainter pencil, that's hard to make out.

The signature says "Col R. Goshen" in the finer hand, and "Col R. Goshon" above it.