Thomson Alexander, Signed (3 results)

Condition: Good. 12mo. 192 pp. + [4] full-page woodcuts. Original publishers glazed boards (soiled but perfectly square and sound), edges sprinkled red (intermittent foxing throughout, most prominently opposite the rectos and versos of the engraved plates and on pastedowns and endpapers, final blank leaf with clean horizontal tear). WITH WOODCUTS BY ALEXANDER ANDERSON (1775-1870), THE FATHER OF WOOD-ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATIONS IN AMERICA. The four Alexander Anderson woodcuts were engraved by [John] Roberts, who signed three of the four woodcuts. These woodcuts first appeared in 1802 (New York: Printed and sold by George F. Hopkins = Pomeroy no. 110a). It is unclear if Anderson was also responsible for the illustrations on our publisher's binding. The present edition seems to be scarce in commerce: our copy appears to be the only one currently on the market. Certainly it is in much better condition than the Widener copy (15467.25.12) which is even more foxed than ours, and was rebound in ugly library buckram. Pomeroy 1410. Checklist of American Imprints (1830) no. 3716.

46 signed letters [34 TLS, 12 ALS] comprising decades of correspondence between Frederick Gardner Cottrell and various notable figures of his day in U.S. politics, the international science community, and academia. All letters are housed in new archival mylar sleeves. Cottrell was a notable chemist, inventor, and philanthropist, best known today for his invention of the electrostatic precipitator - one of the first inventions to combat air pollution - and his founding of the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, which used the revenue from the electrostatic precipitator to fund further scientific research, and continues to do so today. While best remembered for these feats, Cottrell had a long and influential career both in the U.S. Federal Government and as a science consultant. He was well known nationally and internationally - in industry, in government, and in academia - for his support of and contributions to new ideas and new talent within the scientific community. The letters, which span from 1901-1941, track Cottrell over the course of 40 years, and evidence the many relationships he had over that period with some of the most influential people of the time. These include a letter of introduction from Alexander Graham Bell, a discussion of chemistry with Thomas Edison, replies from two Nobel Prize winning scientists - the discoverer of the noble gasses, William Ramsay, and discoverer of the electron, J. J. Thomson - to Cottrell's request to study in their labs, and exchanges with two presidents, Herbert Hoover and Woodrow Wilson. Other letters show his personal interactions with leading scientists of his day (Robert J. Van de Graaff, Georges Claude, George E. Hale) and heads of industry (Henry L. Doherty, Ivy Lee), and track the path of his career through his time as the director of the Bureau of Mines; to chairman of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology on the National Research Council; to head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Fixed Nitrogen Research Lab, and beyond. These letters, the vast majority of which were sent by these notable figures to Cottrell, evidence his expertise, the depth and breadth of his professional interests, and his eagerness to collaborate and share research and ideas, coming together to trace the life of a man whose work was and continues to be consequential to the advancement of science as a whole. CONTENTS: 1-Page TLS from inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell to a Mr. Fish, dated December 20, 1911, introducing Cottrell to him. In Very Good condition. In this letter, Bell is writing in his capacity as Regent of the Smithsonian Institution. On 1331 Connecticut Avenue letterhead. Faintly creased, with mild wrinkling along the edges. Signed in black ink by Bell: "Alexander Graham Bell". 1-page TLS from inventor of the light bulb Thomas Edison to Cottrell dated January 13, 1925, discussing the unexpected results of a past chemistry experiment of his in relation to the generation of ammonia. In Very Good condition. TLS is on Edison's personal letterhead ("From the Laboratory of Thomas A. Edison"). Lightly age toned, with some wrinkling and small closed tears along the top edge. Faintly creased from past folding. Signed by Edison in black ink: "Thos. A. Edison". Includes a lightly soiled 1-page facsimile of Cottrell's reply. 2-page ALS from Nobel Prize winning physicist Joseph John Thomson to an unnamed recipient, likely Cottrell, dated July 6, 1901, discussing the possibility of Cottrell coming to study at Thomson's lab. In Very Good condition. In 1901, Cottrell would have been studying in Europe at the University of Berlin, seeking to study in the laboratory of an accomplished scientist. Thomson was already a figure of some renown for his 1897 discovery of the electron, which represented the first identification of a subatomic particle, and would be awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of his work. ALS is on Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge letterhead, and shows a faint crease across the middle and light pencil writing in the top margin of the first page. Small red pencil mark beneath letterhead. Signed in black ink by Thomson: "J. J. Thomson". 1-page ALS from Nobel Prize winning chemist William Ramsay to an unnamed recipient, likely Cottrell, dated 14th August, 1901, in which Ramsay says there is no availability for Cottrell to study in his lab. In Very Good condition. As with the letter from J. J. Thomson, Cottrell would have been studying in Europe at the University of Berlin at the time this letter was sent. In 1901, Ramsay was just a few years away from his landmark 1904 discovery of argon, the first identified noble gas, which would earn him the 1904 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and lead to the development of a new section of the periodic table. ALS is lightly toned along the edges, faintly creased, with a similar red pencil mark in the top margin. Signed by Ramsay in black ink: "W. Ramsay". 1-page TLS from U.S. President Herbert Hoover to Cottrell, dated September 17, 1920. In Very Good minus condition. Brief letter of thanks for Cottrell's forwarding another person's letter to Hoover. On Hoover's personal letterhead. Faintly stamped, "Received / 1920 Sep 18 / Interior Department Bureau of Mines / Washington D.C.". Small rust marks and light wrinkling along the top margin; faintly creased. Signed in black ink by Hoover: "Herbert Hoover". Two 1-page TLS's from Herbert Hoover, each part of an exchange with Cottrell. In Very Good condition. Includes a 2-page facsimile of Cottrell's response. First Hoover TLS sent February 5, 1926; Cottrell's response sent February 8, 1926; Hoover's second TLS sent February 12, 1926. In his first letter, Hoover asks Cottrell about the potential improper investigation of a new method of creating aluminum by the Bureau of Mines. In the second letter, Hoover thanks Cottrell for clearing up the issue. Hoover's letters are on Department of Commerce letterhead. Letters show fa. Signed.

3pp., folio. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Signed 'Isabella Hankey' and witnessed by 'John fforster Carey Street'. Laid out in the customary manner, and opening: 'Know all Men by these Presents that I Isabella Hankey of Lincolns Inn Fields and also of Finchley in the Ccounty of Middlesex Widow and Relict of John Peter Hankey late of Mincing Lane in the City of London Merchant deceased am held and firmly bound to Thomson Hankey of the City of London Merchant William Alexander of Lincolns Inn Fields aforesaid Esquire one of the Masters of the High Court of Chancery and Augustus Robert Hankey of Fenchurch Street in the said City of London Esquire in the penal Sum of Twenty Five Thousand Pounds'. The document records the death in 1807 of Mrs Hankey's husband, and the dispositions of his will made 7 December 1793, leaving 'All his Sugar Plantations Houses Buildings Sugar Works Mills Lands Tenements Negroes Slaves plantation Utensils live and dead Stock and Hereditaments and parts and shares of Sugar Plantations and Hereditaments situate and living in the Island of Grenada or elsewhere in the West Indies', with references to 'Plantations Negroes Hereditaments and Premises'. John Peter Hankey is said to have died 'leaving Issue by the said Isabella Hankey his Wife four Sons all then and now Infants', and that 'the Estate of the said John Peter Hankey consisted among other things of Debts due upon West Indian Securities or from persons against whom it was not advisable to proceed adversely and the greater part of such outstanding Estate was under circumstances some what peculiar so that it was not deemed a wise and prudent Administration thereof as well by the said Executors and Trustees as the said Isabella Hankey to proceed according to the ordinary duty of Executors and Turstees and call in such outstanding demands by hostile and adverse proceedings against the persons liable thereto'. From the Hankey banking archive.