Edison in Florida: The Green Laboratory / First Edition, 1st Printing, New

Thulesius, Olav

ISBN 10: 0813015219 / ISBN 13: 9780813015217

Published by University Press of Florida, 1997

About this Item

Hardcover, Condition: New, Unread, very tight binding, Never fully opened past copyright page, one owner, Clean & tight copy, No marks or stamps, Dust Jacket Condition: New, no cuts, tears or stains, Hardcover 9.25" x 6.25", 150 pages, bound with green endpapers in white cloth boards with green printing on spine, (assumed) First Edition being a 1st Printing with the Full # Print line 02 01 00 99 98 97 6 5 4 3 2 1 as printed on copyright page, No publisher pre-marked price on dust jacket, Beautiful New Copy of this book.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1742931253875

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Edison in Florida: The Green Laboratory / First Edition, 1st Printing, New
• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813015219
• ISBN 13: 9780813015217
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Florida -- Fiction/Non-Fiction
  • Non Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

"This is the first comprehensive history of Edison’s life and work in Fort Myers, and Thulesius covers the subject well, highlighting little-known segments of Edison’s speculation and experimentation, such as life units, X-rays, and hybridizing, and conveying his keen interest in all that surrounded him."--Leah Burt, former curator, Edison National Historic Site, West Orange, New Jersey

In 1885, America's greatest inventor, the "wizard" of electricity and Yankee industrialization, established a second home in Florida. Unlike the many wealthy turn-of-the century vacationers who descended on Florida's tourist cities to unwind and escape, Thomas Edison chose a "cow town" in the Florida outback. In the mid-1880s, he built a modest house and a laboratory under the palm trees of Fort Myers, and this "green laboratory" became a quiet wellspring of invention for the next forty years.
In this first book devoted to Edison's life and work in Fort Myers, Thulesius reveals Edison the nature lover and medicine man. He traces Edison's first trips to Florida for simple health reasons and then follows Edison's expanding interest in the natural world, his camping trips with John Burroughs, his opposition to the exotic bird trade for the millinery business, his fascination with sponges, and his late experiments with hybridization of rubber and goldenrod. Thulesius also explores the relationship with Fort Myers neighbor Henry Ford, the visits from Henry Firestone, and the joint founding of the Edison Botanic Research Company of Ft. Myers.
Thulesius’s background affords him insight into the medical history of the Edison family, and he traces Edison's lifelong interest in medical issues, his development of "polyform," experiments with X-rays, and cures for gout and yellow fever. What emerges is a new portrait of a brilliant, industrious personality whose imagination and insight were inspired by the natural world he discovered in Florida.

Olav Thulesius is professor and vice dean for research, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University.