The Papers of Thomas A. Edison: The Making of an Inventor, February 1847-June 1874 - Hardcover

Jenkins, Mr. Reese V.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0801831008 ISBN 13: 9780801831003

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989

Synopsis

The third volume of this widely acclaimed series reveals the breath-taking intensity, intellectual acumen, and vast self-confidence of twenty-nine-year-old Thomas Edison. In the depths of the 1870s depression, he moved his independent research and development laboratory from industrial Newark to pastoral Menlo Park, some fifteen miles to the south on the main line of the railroad from New York to Philadelphia. There, equipped with resources for experimental development that were extraordinary for their time, Edison and a few close associates began twenty months of research that expanded their well-established accomplishments in telegraphy into pioneering work on the telephone. Edison's ideas and techniques from telegraph message recording and the telephone next led to his invention of the phonograph, the first patent for which was filed in December 1877. This invention ultimately gave Edison a world-wide reputation--and the nickname "the wizard of Menlo Park."

Praise for previous volumes of The Papers of Thomas A. Edison:

"Those interested in America's technological culture can eagerly look forward to the appearance of each volume of the Edison Papers." -- Technology and Culture

"The essence of the volume is Edison's technical notebooks, a window onto the inventor's workshop. His lucidity comes through everywhere... His writing and drawing come together as a single, vigorous thought process."--Russell McCormmach, New York Times.

"A mine of material... Scrupulously edited... No one could ask for more... A choplicking feast for Edison biographers--well into the next century, and perhaps beyond."--Fred Howard, Washington Post.

"A triumph of the bookmaker's art, with splendidly arranged illustrations, essential background information, and cautionary reminders of the common sources on which Edison's imagination drew."--David Joravsky, New York Review of Books.

"In the pages of this volume Edison the man, his work, and his times come alive... A delight to browse through or to read carefully."--Thomas J. Misa, Science.

About this title

About the Author

Robert A. Rosenberg, Paul B. Israel, Keith A. Nier, and Martha J. King are volume editors for Volume 3 at the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

Reviews

This first volume of a projected 20-volume set of the papers of Edison admirably refutes the hackneyed myths so often repeated in the standard biographies. Rather than a bumbling itinerant or a trial-and-error inventor, Edison here emerges as an admired electrical engineer and youthful entrepreneur, director of his own companies by the age of 25. The incredible fertility of Edison's mind is displayed in hurried drawings to sketch out multiple solutions to any given problem. Copiously illustrated and footnoted, the text mixes brief biographical entries with letters, patent agreements, and drawings. A master index to the set will be essential. The sheer size and technological focus of this project will not displace any of the one-volume biographies in libraries, but, when completed, will be a landmark in the evaluation of Edison. For large public and university libraries.
- James Moffet, Bald win P.L., Birmingham, Mich.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0801831008
• ISBN 13: 9780801831003
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 776