Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

THOMAS EDISON SIGNED CONTRACT FOR THE TELEGRAPH. EDISON, THOMAS ALVA. 1847-1931. Document Signed twice ("T. Edison" and "T.A.E.") being the agreement for the sale of his patent rights in his recent telegraph improvements for "district and alarm telegraphing" to Elisha Andrews and Horace Hotchkiss, retaining business and commercial telegraphing rights, image 1
THOMAS EDISON SIGNED CONTRACT FOR THE TELEGRAPH. EDISON, THOMAS ALVA. 1847-1931. Document Signed twice ("T. Edison" and "T.A.E.") being the agreement for the sale of his patent rights in his recent telegraph improvements for "district and alarm telegraphing" to Elisha Andrews and Horace Hotchkiss, retaining business and commercial telegraphing rights, image 2
Science and Medicine
Lot 58

THOMAS EDISON SIGNED CONTRACT FOR THE TELEGRAPH.
EDISON, THOMAS ALVA. 1847-1931.
Document Signed twice ("T. Edison" and "T.A.E.") being the agreement for the sale of his patent rights in his recent telegraph improvements for "district and alarm telegraphing" to Elisha Andrews and Horace Hotchkiss, retaining business and commercial telegraphing rights,

24 April – 4 May 2023, 12:00 EDT
Online, New York

Sold for US$4,845 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Books & Manuscripts specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

THOMAS EDISON SIGNED CONTRACT FOR THE TELEGRAPH.

EDISON, THOMAS ALVA. 1847-1931. Document Signed twice ("T. Edison" and "T.A.E.") being the agreement for the sale of his patent rights in his recent telegraph improvements for "district and alarm telegraphing" to Elisha Andrews and Horace Hotchkiss, retaining business and commercial telegraphing rights, 4 pp, bifolium, 355 x 217 mm, New York, January 17, 1872, counter-signed by George Pinckney, and by Paul Dunbar for the U.S. Patent Office, revenue stamp affixed to p 1, initialed by Edison, "T.A.E. /Jan 17 / 1872," clean, folds.

SIGNED CONTRACT FOR THE SALE OF EARLY TELEGRAPH PATENT RIGHTS. Andrews and Hotchkiss were principals of Edison partner the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, which soon after this acquisition would give rise to the American District Telegraph Co (ADT), which employed telegraph and circuit technology in home security networks, largely on the framework of Edison's improvements. The 1870s were an incredibly fruitful time for Edison, and his work on the telegraph would eventually dovetail with his work on the phonograph and yield his incredible advancements for the telephone. Edison's contributions to the nascent field of telecommunications are unparalleled, and this contract and important relic of that moment.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

ADVERTISING POSTERfor 'The Suffragette' newspaper, [c.1913-1914]

ARCHITECTURE - STUART (JAMES) AND NICHOLAS REVETT The Antiquities of Athens, 4 vol. bound in 2, 1825-1830

ILLUMINATED ADDRESS – CLARA CODD Illuminated printed address signed by Emmeline Pankhurst, [1909]

ARMENIAN - HISTORY, THEOLOGY AND PRINTING. Group of books/a map in Armenian, c.1825-1901 (12)

MUSIC & RECORDINGS – ETHEL SMYTH Collection of printed music, song sheets and records, [c.1911-1912]

BANK NOTES - MANUFACTURING BRADBURY (HENRY) On the Security and Manufacture of Bank Notes, FIRST EDITION, Bradbury and Evans, 1856