Featured Thomas Edison

Prior to bidding, I searched and searched.
I searched some more. Nothing.

This was the entire auction description ...
Tribute To Thomas Edison
Condition fair, loose binding, water damage.

These were the informative 3 out of 4 pictures ...


The photos and imagination was all that was left.

I'll share more details when available.

Feel free to post your deductions as to what it is.
(Like the silver game by MrNate.)
Also, would you chase after it or let it go? Why?
(For me I was extremely curious, up to a point of course.)

 

It is intriguing.

For a guy who has over 1000 patents to his name, it seems a bit odd to have a 'tribute' with only 6 or 8 pages. Appears to have a mounted plate or something on the last page.

Stumped. Hope it works in your favor.

 

It looks like there is a foldout attached inside the cover. Apparently there have been a lot of tributes to him through the years, including from Calvin Coolidge at Edison's death. I wonder if this is a printed version of a spoken tribute?

There is also a 2011 song with that title. There are video versions online. Most likely this is not connected with the book!

Oh, and I just noticed from the first pic that the book is in a box/sleeve. Fancy!

 

My thoughts were that it was an event oriented book, and he had many events! I also speculated that the shorter white paper was an invitation saved with this memento.

I'm still not going to give its subject away yet. I will share a peek into its pages.

FYI, I contacted the paper collections archivist at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park and received a speedy reply. He was only able to say that catalog records do not show this specific book in their collection.

I think I will need to see if it appears in any of his industrialist friends collections.

It's a needle in a haystack, but it's a pretty needle deserving of a look.




PS: The advertised condition does not relate to this book at all.

 

The paper that was tucked in at the beginning of the book was a note stating the the book came via Beauchamp.

Who is D. Beauchamp? I could not find any relationship to the 20th century printing world or to Edison.

The note had a watermark for a paper company that went out of business in the early 1960s.

 

Don't be such a tease. Is there any publisher's information, or a date?

It looks like Beauchamp might be the calligrapher who did the monogram and other artwork.

 

It looks to be privately made.
No publisher. No date. Just D. Beauchamp.
Beauchamp must have been special in the industry to be able to add his name, the note stated Mr. Beauchamp.

 

Agree that it (at first glance) appears to be a private publication. Is there any preface, author's notes, dedication, etc? What was the city/state of the paper manufacturer per the watermark?

Edison died in 1931. The World's Fair of 1932 was in Chicago ("A Century of Progress"). I wonder if there is a connection, a series of upper end books of notables. Might be a subscription only series from a private company.

 

Here it is ...

This book was to remember him now that he had passed. We are at 1931, or soon after.

A book of just 10 sheets, two of which are blank, and eight are printed on one side. Each sheet has a fibrous tissue separator attached. To my eye it’s a combination of printing and hand illumination on key elements.

It starts with powerful text by R.G. Ingersoll, written about A. Humboldt and adapted to Edison. Followed with honoring sentiments by President Hoover.

The only clue is this Beauchamp fellow.

These are the remaining pages ...

 

This is added, and I remind you that it only pertains to the added note stating the book came via Beauchamp. The watermark on that note is from this company.
http://www.holyokelibrary.org/holyokenew/documents/whiteandwyckoff.pdf

 

... and this for scale ...


An inch ruler marked in 32nds is pictured.

 

Can you post a photo of the note referring to Beauchamp? Is it handwritten, or printed? Was there any context in the auction, e.g. books from so-and-so's library? Did you buy any others that had a previous owner's name?

 

I flew by the seat of my pants using only the useless auction description and photos (see original post).
Here's the note ...

 

It looks to be all original calligraphy, not printed, (you can see slight variations in the letters), and so may be a unique item. As Beauchamp appears to have signed the page with the monograph, I would guess he was the calligrapher, perhaps transcribing the addresses given at a memorial service, and may have presented the bound volume to the Edison family as a memento. It must somehow have reverted to Beauchamp, (or it was never presented).

 

Thanks for the input / insight!
You made me look at this again and with a new eye.

I did assume that it was written (larger) by hand, then thought photomechanically made smaller and reproduced for short-run printing. I had engraving stuck in my head. The ink is jet black and thick, ahh but not everywhere. Looking again in several areas, there are crossed "t"s and "f"s that the clearly show a darker crossed line.

As for Beauchamp's signature, there is natural light and dark ink flow, and ... well I did not think it possible to write that small! The capital "B" is 1/16" tall and the lower case under 1/32"

This is an insane outpouring of talent at a level I've never seen!

I believe that you have hit the nail on the head!

I will shoot some better images to illustrate your astute assumption.

 

The white accents look painted:


Looks hand written to me as well.

To me, this is an instance in which the subject matter plays second fiddle to the artifact itself.

 

I agree... it is beautiful.

 

I'll try and post some sharp images this week.

I did a little searching in a new direction based on 2manybooks input. This seems to fall in the category of calligraphic manuscript. Maybe in this area of collecting the name D. Beauchamp can be found.

This may have been "a thing" then. This from 1924.
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23431/lot/1095/

 

The skills people develop are always astonishing to me. Of course, before the development of moveable type, books were manuscripts and, consequently, extremely expensive. But even after the introduction of type those skills survive.

I've found small calligraphic pieces (e.g. single page mottos), but nothing so grand as a book.

A hand written, hand illuminated bible was commissioned in 1998 by Saint John's Abbey in Minnosota. It took 13 years to complete.
https://saintjohnsbible.org/


A bit off topic (but maybe not entirely): All of the text on this engraving was done by hand (at least that's my understanding), which means it was engraved backwards on a copper plate. And it's small... as small as the text in a paperback book.




It was a specialty of the time, and apparently viewed as just another job. This text was engraved by Niquet L’Epine about whom nothing is known except that she was active in the 1780s – ‘90s. An unsung hero to my mind.

 

I had time the photographically illustrate what 2manybooks suggested, about this being a hand written book. I think these two images proves this.

In some parts of the book the cross on the "t"s stand out the most. Also the very small "States" shows thinning ink strength in the "te". Also, a possible guide line on the right side of the "S".