In 1939 Robert L. May, a copywriter working at Chicago's Montgomery Ward & Co., wrote a holiday story at the request of his employer. Almost two and a half million copies of the little tale about a reindeer with a shiny red nose were given away to children who visited Montgomery Ward stores that year. The rest is history. Over seventy years later, the beloved classic is once again available in a faithful, hardcover facsimile of the original 1939 Rudolph, with original text and illustrations by Denver Gillen.