Lot 51
51
EDISON, Thomas Alva (1847-1931) -- A manuscript indenture on vellum, dated 6th April 1882, establishing the terms of an agreement between Thomas Alva Edison of Menlo Park, New Jersey, Edward Griffith Brewer of 33 Chancery Lane, City of London, in partnership with Peter Jensen as Engineers and Patent Agents, and Anthony Joseph Drexel, Francis Anthony Drexel, John Pierpont Morgan, Egisto Paolo Fabbri, James Hood Wright and Charles Henry Godfrey "carrying on business as bankers in New York in partnership under the firm name of Drexel Morgan," also with Egisto Paolo Fabbri in a private capacity and Grosevnor Porter Lowrey for the establishment of a company "with limited liability by shares to be called the Edison Electric Light Company Limited," the Company to have a capital of "one million pounds sterling divided into Fifty thousand A shares of Ten pounds each and Fifty thousand B shares of Ten pounds each." Under the terms of the indenture, the parties named become "beneficial owners" of the Company, and there are detailed clauses concerning its funding by the Drexel Morgan Bank and the assigning of patents to the Company, with a schedule of 39 patent numbers with dates following on the terms of the agreement. The lower right hand of the page bears 11 small wax seals against the respective spaces for signature, and is SIGNED BY EDISON and another 6 of 10 signaturies with Fabbri as a double signatury signing twice (the seals slightly chipped), witnessed 26 April 1882 by Charles Charles Roth, public notary, New York county, with his signature and orange paper seal over blindstamp to the lower left hand page, also witnessed by H Lawson representing the state of New York, 651 x 551mm., folded.

Details
EDISON, Thomas Alva (1847-1931) -- A manuscript indenture on vellum, dated 6th April 1882, establishing the terms of an agreement between Thomas Alva Edison of Menlo Park, New Jersey, Edward Griffith Brewer of 33 Chancery Lane, City of London, in partnership with Peter Jensen as Engineers and Patent Agents, and Anthony Joseph Drexel, Francis Anthony Drexel, John Pierpont Morgan, Egisto Paolo Fabbri, James Hood Wright and Charles Henry Godfrey "carrying on business as bankers in New York in partnership under the firm name of Drexel Morgan," also with Egisto Paolo Fabbri in a private capacity and Grosevnor Porter Lowrey for the establishment of a company "with limited liability by shares to be called the Edison Electric Light Company Limited," the Company to have a capital of "one million pounds sterling divided into Fifty thousand A shares of Ten pounds each and Fifty thousand B shares of Ten pounds each." Under the terms of the indenture, the parties named become "beneficial owners" of the Company, and there are detailed clauses concerning its funding by the Drexel Morgan Bank and the assigning of patents to the Company, with a schedule of 39 patent numbers with dates following on the terms of the agreement. The lower right hand of the page bears 11 small wax seals against the respective spaces for signature, and is SIGNED BY EDISON and another 6 of 10 signaturies with Fabbri as a double signatury signing twice (the seals slightly chipped), witnessed 26 April 1882 by Charles Charles Roth, public notary, New York county, with his signature and orange paper seal over blindstamp to the lower left hand page, also witnessed by H Lawson representing the state of New York, 651 x 551mm., folded.

Lot Essay

This important document established the British subsidiary of the Edison Electric Light Co., founded in America in 1878 with a capital of $300,000 to develop and exploit Edison's inventions backed by J. Pierpont Morgan with Drexel, Morgan as bankers. The British company is historically of enormous importance as it preceeded the American company in constructing the first commercial installation, and the experience gained in London was reported back to Edison before the completion of the first New York station, switched for the first time later in 1882. Josephson states that "The Edison Electric Lighting Company, Ltd., had been organised in the preceeding year [i.e. 1881] with British Capital and soon began construction of what was actually the first commercial incandescent-lighting station in the world, at Holborn Viaduct (M. Josephson Edison, 1959, p. 259).

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