Future Property, Signed (2 results)

4to. [67 leaves (unnumbered, or separately numbered in sections), including 38 silver gelatin photographs, a couple are reproductions of documents, nearly all are linen-backed, some mounted on stubs at gutter margin, sized from 8 x 10 in. up to 8.5 x 11 in., 4 technical drawing blueprints for engine, 2 smaller photos inserted in mylar pockets, Supplementary Stock Issue announcement, dittoed TLS on blue-tinted letterhead for the Beadon Service Inc. dealership indicating 5 sales, assorted other ephemera, including dittoed TLS announcements for Smith Motor Truck Corp. dated 1917. Flexible black calf 3-ring binder, gilt lettering stamped on front cover (wear, rubbing, front hinge split, interior thumbing, occasional dustsoiling), still VG exemplar, w/ signed introduction by Victor W. Page; together with two mounted silver gelatin photographs sized 8 x 10 on 11.5 x 13.5 in. studio mounts, w/ embossed photographer's imprint in lower right corner depicting future Zollinger Motors Co. dealership locations, w/ billboards for Dodge Bros. and Buick (minor edgewear, some minor warping), still VG bright images. An historically important survivor dealership sales brochure and album for the short-lived Victor W. Page Motors Corp. developed and built with the patented innovations of Victor W. Page (1885-1947), a pioneering automotive and aeronautical specialist and inventor. Following World War I, Page left his position as the chief Aeronautical Engineering Officer in France to found the Victor W. Page Motors Corp. intended to produce over 300,000 automobiles a year, including the Aero-Type Four featuring his patented air-cooled motor, suspension system, chassis, and cutaway seats. By January, 1922 he was able to exhibit at the New York Auto Show with original photographs included in this dealership album of two couple sedans, two convertible speedsters, a display chassis, and a body for the Aero-Type Four. The automobiles targeted the $ 1250- $ 1750 price range, and featured steel dixc wheels, contoured shell, hood and fenders built with liberal amounts of aluminum.The first 15 automobiles were built in a Liberty Engine Factory including the ground-breaking 30 horsepower 4-cylinder engine, featured his patented tilted steering wheel system, and disc brakes. The body and chassis were built in Farmingdale, MA and the engines were assembled in New York for an eventual production of just 15 cars, and none survived after the liquidation auction in 1927. Page had prior experience with automobiles, and had actually built 25 total cars with his earlier company, the Page Motor Vehicle Co. of Providence, RI, which closed at the entry of the U.S. into World War I. Page in his second company, as shown here intended a huge stock offering, but unfortunately trusted the less than scrupulous grifter Charles Beadon to sell the stock, whose salesmen ended up embezzling all dividends and profits. Some of the eary investors traveled to the Stamford, CT plant to get their money back, and Beadon sued him. After years of litigation, the company was dissolved and all properties, equipment and assets sold off. Unfortunately, none of the Victor W. Page automobiles survive, and this cataloguer could find no similar surviving piece of sales literature, or photographs as this item. Lazarnick (1879-1955) was a pioneering automotive photographer whose images captured the development of motor vehicles form the early 1900's to the late 1920's, and covered many of the Vanderbilt Cup Races, photographed the presidential campaigns of Taft, McKinley & Roosevelt, as well as capturing such notables as Steinmetz, Edison, Oldfield, and Rickenbacker. See: Frank C. Derato, Victor W. Page, Automotive and Aviation Pioneer (1991); John Brockmann, Victor W. Page's Early Twentieth-Century Automotive and Aviation Books: "Practical Books for Practical Men," Jounral of Business and Technical Communication, Vol. 10, No. 3 (July, 1996), pp. 285-305; Howard Kroplick, Nathan Lazarnick: The Pioneer of Automotive Photography, Vanderbilt Cup Races, March 9, 2013.

No Binding. Condition: Very Good. Handwritten deed on folio sheet of laid paper. Double-sided with signature of Christopher Greenup attesting the validity of the deed on the verso. Deed records the transfer of property in Mercer, County in the District of Kentucky near Irish Station, from John Brown to Jared Cowan, one of 32 original settlers of Fort Harrod, Kentucky's first permanent settlement. Also contains the signatures of Kentucky pioneers John Cowan, James Brown and Thomas Speed. John Cowan, brother of Jared, and James Brown were two of the original 31 settlers of Harrodsburg, and along with Jared are listed as members of Harrod's Company of Kentucky Pioneers. Thomas Speed, brother of Farmington Plantation founder John Speed and uncle of Lincoln's future Attorney General James Speed, later served as a major in the Kentucky militia in the War of 1812 and as a U.S. congressman. Several folds to the sheet with splitting to the folds in various places. Old stain at bottom of the sheet obscuring several words of the document but not the signatures. Rare of autograph of Christopher Greenup (1750-1818), future third governor of Kentucky from 1804-1808. During the Revolution Greenup served as a lieutenant in the Continental Army and a Colonel in the Virginia militia. Greenup served as clerk of the first Kentucky statehood convention in 1784 and participated in each of the subsequent conventions leading to Kentucky statehood. Following statehood in 1792 Greenup in both the Kentucky Senate and House at various times and first ran for governor in 1800, finishing second. During his second run for governor in 1804, Greenup's popularity in the state allowed him to run unopposed for the office. In 1812 Greenup served as presidential elector for the ticket of Madison and Clinton and in 1813 served as Kentucky Secretary of State. In the context of the present document Greenup in his role as a lawyer is validating the deed on behalf of the Virginia Supreme Court. Jared Cowan is sometimes confused with his brother James who was killed by Indians in 1774. Jared however lived in Mercer County until his death in 1795, with his will attested and inventoried in 1796. An extraordinary document of early Kentucky. Signed by Author(s).