Details
EDISON, THOMAS ALVA. Document BOLDLY SIGNED in full (with large "umbrella" paraph), A LITHOGRAPHIC PLAN OF ELECTRICAL CIRCUITRY FOR THE INCANDESCENT ELECTRIC LIGHT, also signed by witnesses Charles H. Smith and George H. Pinckney, n.p., n.d. [1881]. One page, large folio, 405 x 560mm. (15 15/16 x 21 7/8in.), edges neatly reinforced from the back with archival tape, very slight cockling, printed in crisp black ink on a smooth-finish cream stock, marked at top "Lamina [plate] 10, the plan consisting of six figures (numbered 9-14) diagramming complicated circuitry and machinery.
Edison perfected the incandescent lamp by uniting discoveries and designs of earlier experimenters. In 1882, his first system, including generators, conductors and transformers, became operative in lower Manhattan. Under the international copyright law at the time, the inventor was required to patent his invention in each country where he hoped to install the new system. The present lithograph is one of a dozen prepared to accompany his filing for a patent in Bolivia (two were offered in these rooms on 8 June 1990. lots 165 and 166, three others here on 7 December 1990, lots 157-159 and another on 17 May 1991, lot 190). Plans of this sort, signed by Edision, are extremely rare on the market. In the past 20 years we can only trace a single other example, from the same Bolivian patent group, sold at Hamilton Galleries in 1977. The present is the final example from the series to be offered.
Edison perfected the incandescent lamp by uniting discoveries and designs of earlier experimenters. In 1882, his first system, including generators, conductors and transformers, became operative in lower Manhattan. Under the international copyright law at the time, the inventor was required to patent his invention in each country where he hoped to install the new system. The present lithograph is one of a dozen prepared to accompany his filing for a patent in Bolivia (two were offered in these rooms on 8 June 1990. lots 165 and 166, three others here on 7 December 1990, lots 157-159 and another on 17 May 1991, lot 190). Plans of this sort, signed by Edision, are extremely rare on the market. In the past 20 years we can only trace a single other example, from the same Bolivian patent group, sold at Hamilton Galleries in 1977. The present is the final example from the series to be offered.