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When Night Turned Into Day: The First Underground Wire to Light a Home in the World, Part of Thomas Edison’s Groundbreaking Test in Menlo Park, and Used to Electrify Edison's Own Home

When Night Turned Into Day: The First Underground Wire to Light a Home in the World, Part of Thomas Edison’s Groundbreaking Test in Menlo Park, and Used to Electrify Edison's Own Home by Thomas Edison

3 to 5 days for delivery
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$120,000.00
( US$)
Seller: The Raab Collection
Title
When Night Turned Into Day: The First Underground Wire to Light a Home in the World, Part of Thomas Edison’s Groundbreaking Test in Menlo Park, and Used to Electrify Edison's Own Home
Author
Thomas Edison
Seller
The Raab Collection (United States)
Description
1880. Acquired by us directly from the descendant of Edison’s chief laboratory machinist John Kruesi, and never before offered for sale; This invention led to the lighting of New York City, the United States, and then globeThe Smithsonian displays an artifact with the same provenance: A lamp used to illuminate Menlo Park on December 31,1879, when Edison introduced his invention to the world. It is currently on in the exhibition Lighting A Revolution at the National Museum of American History.Thomas Edison propelled the world out of the gaslight era and into the electric age. With dreams of lighting up entire cites, Edison lined up financial backing, assembled a group of brilliant scientists and technicians, and applied his genius to the challenge of creating an effective and affordable electric lamp. With unflagging determination, he and his team tried out thousands of possibilities, convinced that every failure brought them one step closer to success. They succeeded where so many others had failed. On January 27, 1880, just a month after exhibiting his invention, Edison received the historic patent embodying the principles of his incandescent lamp that paved the way for the universal domestic use of electric light.This changed the way everyone lived. Work could start early or continue past dusk. The evenings could be times of activity and recreation. The day no longer had to be confined to daylight hours or time huddled around the heat and light of the fire. It remains among the greatest advancements of the modern age. But a light bulb without a system of electricity delivery would remain nothing more than a lab experiment.John Kruesi had been apprenticed as a locksmith in Switzerland, and migrated to the United States where he settled in Newark, New Jersey. There he met Thomas Edison, who was impressed with the young Swiss immigrant and took a liking to him, employing him in his workshop starting in 1872. He became Edison's head machinist through his Newark and Menlo Park periods, responsible for translating Edison's numerous rough sketches into working devices. Since constructing and testing models was central to Edison's method of inventing, Kruesi's skill in doing this was critical to Edison's success as an inventor. Historians Robert Friedel and Paul Israel summed up Kruesi's remarkable ability:“If the devices that emerged [from Kruesi's workshop] didn't work, it was because they were bad ideas, not because they were badly made. And when the ideas were good, as in the case of the phonograph, the product of Kruesi's shop would prove it.” Kruesi was involved in many of Edison's key inventions, including the quadruplex telegraph, the carbon microphone, phonograph, incandescent light bulb and system of electric lighting. Kruesi was particularly proud of building the first phonograph.Inventing a light bulb did not bring it into the home. You had to have a way to deliver the electricity needed to light the bulb. So Edison set to work creating a system to light the world. W.S. Andrews, one of Edison’s first employees, describes the system in great detail. “In 1880, Mr. Edison laid out a system of underground distribution.. from his laboratory in Menlo Park, to supply 1000 lamps, placed on wooden lamp-posts along the streets and roads of the village of Menlo Park and also in the dwellings. As no electric circuits had ever before been placed underground, there was absolutely no experience to guide in the proper laying and insulation of the conductors…” Conductors “were composed of No. 10 BWG copper wire… the system was a simple two conductor, multiple circuit… After a few weeks of experiments, the best of the insulating compounds was selected for use. This compound was composed of refined Trinidad asphaltum, mixed with oxidized linseed oil to give it the right consistency, and a little paraffine and beeswax were added to make the material smoother.”The wires insulated and laid, Edison set to test the first ever underground power system. Andrews continues, “It was on Election Day 1880 that Mr. Howell informed Edison that this line was completed, the lamps in place and everything read for starting up. His answer was characteristic, ‘If Garfield is elected, light up that circuit. If not do not light it….’ When the result seemed certain, Mr. Edison gave orders to light up the circuit so the row of bamboo filaments started glowing on the night of Garfield’s election, in November 1880…”A piece of the first ever wire to electrically light a home in the world, used that very night in 1880 to electrify Edison’s own home (and across from Kruesi’s), and one of only a handful such artifacts known to have survived. The dual conductor copper wires are still partially covered by Edison’s asphalum. The artifact was dug up by F.A. Wardlaw, long-time aide, and was later Secretary of the Edison Pioneers and curator of the historical collection of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies. Wardlaw has inscribed a note in sending it to Kruesi’s son Paul, who grew up with Edison at Menlo Park. The note is attached to the wire. Autograph note signed, F.A. Wardlaw: “This is a piece of the original underground conductor that fed Edison's home, exactly like that used for yours and Batchelors, at the historic demonstration of the Edison electric light at Menlo Park, N.J. in 1880. It was the first underground cable ever used for this purpose. Taken from the earth by myself Sept. 29, 1933, after having been buried on the east side of Christie Street, just opposite your old home, for fifty-three years.”Included is a copy of the original letter from Wardlaw, which reads, “Perhaps you would like a piece of the original conductor used by Edison at Menlo Park at the now historic demonstra_tion of the Edison System of Incandescent Electric Lighting in 1880, so am sending you one. I dug it out of the bank on the east side of Christie St, Menlo Park, directly opposite your old home, last Friday. It was the first underground cable ever used for electric lighting and appears pretty good yet after being buried for 53 years.”The Smithsonian has an artifact with the same F.A. Wardlaw provenance: A lamp used to illuminate Menlo Park on December 31,1879 when he introduced his invention to the world. It is currently on display in the exhibition Lighting A Revolution at the National Museum of American History. Most of the Wardlaw provenance material that appears to have survived is in fact in the Smithsonian.This artifact and note were acquired by us from the direct descendant of John Kruesi and have never before been offered for sale.
President Woodrow Wilson Asks the Acting Chairman of the American Red Cross to Serve on the National War Finance Committee, Which Raised the Most Money For a Philanthropic Cause Up to That Time

President Woodrow Wilson Asks the Acting Chairman of the American Red Cross to Serve on the National War Finance Committee, Which Raised the Most Money For a Philanthropic Cause Up to That Time by Woodrow Wilson

3 to 5 days for delivery
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$3,500.00
( US$)
Seller: The Raab Collection
Title
President Woodrow Wilson Asks the Acting Chairman of the American Red Cross to Serve on the National War Finance Committee, Which Raised the Most Money For a Philanthropic Cause Up to That Time
Author
Woodrow Wilson
Seller
The Raab Collection (United States)
Description
6/3/18. “The experience of eight months, of the demands made upon the generous patriotism of the American people, merely emphasizes the necessity of concentrating the work of relief in one main organization which can respond effectively and universally to the needs of humanity under the stress of war. I have designated you to serve as a member of the National War Finance Committee and I hope you can and will accept.”On March 19, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson was named the first honorary president of the American Red Cross, establishing a precedent for all chief executives who have followed. His quotation “I summon you to comradeship in the Red Cross” became a rallying cry, and decorated one of the most famous Red Cross posters - a young woman clutching an American flag with the Red Cross symbol and U.S. Capitol in the background.When the United States officially entered World War I on April 6, 1917, it had been raging in Europe since the summer of 1914. Bound by its government charter to support the U.S. military, the American Red Cross was championed by Wilson as he called upon the American people to back the organization in its support of millions of young men heading to the battlefields of Europe. On May 10, 1917, Wilson appointed a 13-man War Council to guide operations of the Red Cross during the conflict. The Red Cross held its first War Fund drive that year. As part of the war effort, the Red Cross began service to blinded war veterans, started its Canteen Service to provide refreshments to the military, introduced medical social work in servicemen’s hospitals, and began the Nurses’ Aide program to make up for nurse shortages during wartime.Since 1914 the Red Cross had been providing relief to worn-torn European countries, first with doctors, nurses, and medical supplies on the SS Red Cross or Mercy Ship, and later with hospital garments, surgical bandages, and refugee clothing, sent to sister Red Cross societies, and produced by Americans recruited through the Women’s Bureau of the Red Cross. After the U.S. declaration of war, the Army and Navy regularly requested thousands of surgical dressings and what were referred to as “comfort” items for their men. Comfort items included hand-knitted socks, sweaters, soap, razors and the like. Between 1917 and 1919, over 8 million American women, along with many Junior Red Cross members, produced over 370 million relief articles for the Allied armed forces and civilians in Europe.Cornelius N. Bliss, Jr., whose father was a member of President McKinley’s Cabinet, was a philanthropist who was also active politically. He participated in the successful presidential campaign of Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. In July 1916, he was named treasurer of the Republican National Committee, and also served as president of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, President Wilson named Bliss as one of the 13 members of his Red Cross War Council. The next year he became its acting chairman. When it came time to raise funds for the Red Cross in 1918, Wilson formed the National War Finance Committee. With his experience in finance and as treasurer, it was natural that Wilson would want Bliss to serve on it.Typed letter signed, on American Red Cross letterhead, Washington, March 6, 1918, to Bliss, asking him to accept appointment to the National War Finance Committee. “The Chairman of the War Council informs me that the American Red Cross will shortly appeal to the American people for additional funds to carry on its work. The close co-operation of the American National Red Cross with the military branch of the Government has suggested many new avenues of helpfulness in the immediate business of our organization for war, but in the present situation there are unlimited opportunities of broad humanitarian service, and the effective performance of the service is necessary in itself and in its relation to our master purpose of winning the war.“When I appointed the War Council, I wrote: ""The Best way in which to impart the greatest efficiency and energy to the relief work which this war will entail will be to concentrate it in the hands of a single experienced organization which has been recognized by law and by international convention as the public instrumentality for such purposes. Indeed, such a concentration of administrative action in this matter seems to me absolutely necessary.“The experience of eight months, of the demands made upon the generous patriotism of the American people, merely emphasizes the necessity of concentrating the work of relief in one main organization which can respond effectively and universally to the needs of humanity under the stress of war. I have designated you to serve as a member of the National War Finance Committee and I hope you can and will accept.”National War Finance Committee asked the American people for $100 million, which was then by far the greatest philanthropic effort in U.S. history. That sum was exceeded. To achieve this they issued some of the iconic World War I posters that are collectors items today.After the war, Bliss returned to business and philanthropy on a large scale, operating as a trustee, board member, or president of several organizations, including the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the Depression, he was one of six men named by New York City Mayor Walker to operate a relief fund, two others being J.P. Morgan and former governor Al Smith. During World War II, he was a chairman of the American Red Cross committee on war activities, and was for a time chairman of the Red Cross.
Taikai [or] Daie 大會 [libretto for the Noh play]

Taikai [or] Daie 大會 [libretto for the Noh play] by KŌETSU UTAI BON 光悦謡本 from the Saga Press

7 to 14 days for delivery
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$25,000.00
( US$)
Seller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc.
Title
Taikai [or] Daie 大會 [libretto for the Noh play]
Author
KŌETSU UTAI BON 光悦謡本 from the Saga Press
Seller
Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc. (United States)
Description
14 pages of text & two pages forming paste-downs of varying shades of pale pink & cream gofun biki torinoko (mica-printed) paper, all printed with mica patterns, endpapers printed with mica patterns of plum flowers on branches & autumnal weeds, bound in two “quires” & sewn together. Small 4to (240 x 180 mm.), orig. pale gray semi-stiff wrappers with mica woodblock-printed designs of hydrangea leaves, orig. printed label on upper cover. [Saga, near Kyoto: about 1608 or shortly thereafter]. An ultimate luxury copy (tokusei bon 特製本), in very fine condition, with mica-printed text leaves and covers, using paper of shades of pale pink, cream, and gray. This is the second time we have handled a copy of a Kōetsu utai bon in the most luxurious state (of three). This is one of the series of 100 Noh plays produced at the famous private press in Saga, just north of Kyoto. These sumptuous luxury editions were printed for the wealthy and enlightened merchant Suminokura Soan (1571-1632), in collaboration with his calligraphy teacher Kōetsu, a leading cultural figure of his day, famous as an artist, potter, lacquerer, and connoisseur. These books are amongst the most remarkable printed works created in Japan or anywhere else; their design is far in advance of anything produced in the West. Issued in limited numbers, they were intended for private distribution to an elite audience, friends and acquaintances of the creators, who formed the patrons of the Saga artistic community. Printed with movable type on luxurious thick paper, the books have, according to Hillier, a modernity in design matched only by the works of William Blake and the French artists’ books of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They reveal the beauty of native Japanese calligraphy. The movable type is based on the calligraphy of Kōetsu. This series of mostly chants from Noh plays comprises “small, pamphlet-size books, each of about twelve or thirteen sheets, whose outstanding feature is the decoration, invariably of mica-printed patterns on stained or dyed paper, which is of a distinction that immediately links them with the collaborative scroll works by Kōetsu and Sōtatsu and which has led to their being called Kōetsu-bon…These designs, resulting from a sophisticated adaptation or distortion of natural forms, are notable examples of one of the unique contributions of Japan to world art… “But, decoration apart, these No booklets are remarkable in other ways. An unusually thick and opaque kind of paper was used, no doubt made specially for these editions, and, contrary to normal practice, it was printed on both sides of the sheet. This ruled out the normal construction of a book whereby the sheets, printed on one side only, were folded in two and bound at the loose edges. The majority of the Kōetsu-bon were made up by an entirely different method. A number of sheets, usually six [in this copy, three in the first “quire” and two in the second, the outer leaves used as paste-downs], were placed flat, one above the other, and the batch was then folded in two; two such sections would form a complete book. The binding again was unusual. The outer covers, though printed first as a single sheet, invariably with a mica-printed design, were cut in two and each given a folded turnover along one edge, in which one batch of the folded sheets was lodged. The two halves were then sewn together through the turn-overs of the two halves of the cover, brought together at the inner edge. This is a binding method unique to Japan and is known as Yamato-toji [or recchōsō]… “These Kōetsu-bon represent an astonishing leap forward to something entirely unprecedented in the history of the illustrated or decorated book. This was the first time a book had been conceived as a single unified work of printed decorative art…not until we come to William Blake’s Prophetic Books, do we encounter anything remotely comparable, and the creation in the West on any appreciable scale of books composed as homogeneously decorated printed works of art did not occur until the appearance of the French livres d’artiste in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”–Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, pp. 51-54. The Kōetsu utai bon were produced in three levels of luxury. The finest (such as our example) has mica patterns or images printed on the text leaves and covers before the text was printed with movable type. The next level also had mica-printed covers but employed papers of different colors with no mica printing on the text pages. The least luxurious version used only cream-colored text paper and had mica patterns printed on the covers. The covers of our copy are mica-printed with images of bamboo and with backgrounds of sprinkled mica. Each of the five sheets with text exhibits different mica-printed images, including grass adorned with dew in the field, Japanese pampas grass, plum blossoms on branches, and waves. The movable type characters are based on the calligraphy of Hon’Ami Kōetsu (1558-1637); this type is called hiragana majiri, a combination of kanji and kana accompanied by dashes next to each syllable. These dashes are the notations for the pitches to be sung. The notes are not written as specifically as they are in Western sheet music. If the dash goes up, the pitch is raised; if it is straight, the same pitch is continued; and if it goes down, the pitch is lowered. A very fine and fresh copy, preserved in a wooden box. These Kōetsu utai bon are very rare on the market, especially when in excellent condition like our example. Covers a bit dusty, and a few unimportant marks. ❧ Fischer et al., The Art of Hon’Ami Koetsu, Japanese Renaissance Master, pp. 174-75–“The deluxe editions of utai-bon that were printed at the Saga presses, where Koetsu and Suminokura Soan collaborated to produce classics of earlier Japanese literature, were intended for amateur connoisseurs like themselves. The thick paper, mica-printed motifs, and carved wood type were all part of an artistic whole, meant to complement the aesthetic pleasure of the utai vocal performance.” Murase, Tales of Japan. Scrolls and Prints from the New York Public Library, pp. 157-59.
Of Love and Shadows - 1st US Edition/1st Printing

Of Love and Shadows - 1st US Edition/1st Printing by Allende, Isabel

5 to 14 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $7.00
Details
$60.00
( EU VAT US$0)
Seller: Books Tell You Why, Inc.
Title
Of Love and Shadows - 1st US Edition/1st Printing
Author
Allende, Isabel
Seller
Books Tell You Why, Inc. (United States)
ISBN
9780394549620
Condition
Fine in Fine dust jacket
Description
New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Fine in Fine dust jacket. 1987. 1st US Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 0394549627 . A handsome first US edition/first printing in unread Fine condition in about Fine dust-jacket. Publisher's promotional card laid in. Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden. From the collection of Betty Anderson, legendary art director of publisher Knopf in the late 20th century as evidenced by her (small and unobtrusive) inventory number on front paste down; At the center of Allende's second novel are upper class daughter Irene Beltrán and photographer Francisco Leal, fated, under the most desperate circumstances to fall totally in love. Basis for the motion picture starring Antonio Banderas; 8vo; [viii], 274, [6] pages .
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CLOCK: Stories Out of Time, Out of Place

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CLOCK: Stories Out of Time, Out of Place by Stern, Philip Van Doren

5 to 10 days for delivery
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$40.00
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Seller: Type Punch Matrix
Title
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CLOCK: Stories Out of Time, Out of Place
Author
Stern, Philip Van Doren
Seller
Type Punch Matrix (United States)
Condition
Fine in very good plus jacket.
Description
New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1969. First printing. Fine in very good plus jacket.. First edition of this anthology of eerie and supernatural speculative short fiction by John Wyndham, J.B. Priestley, Robert Heinlein, and others, including the editor, whose "The Greatest Gift" was the basis for the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life." 9'' x 6''. Original charcoal grey cloth with metallic red spine lettering. In original pictorial dust jacket. 192 pages. Minor edgewear and scuffing to jacket, with a 1'' closed tear to upper edge of front panel.

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