EDOUARD BELIN - AUTOGRAPH NOTE SIGNED 09/06/1927 - HFSID 265813

ÉDOUARD BELIN
The French inventor pens a letter to an admirer below a printed 5¼x3½ photo of his Belinògraph
Autograph Letter signed: “Edouard/Belin”, in black ink, 1p, 5¼x8¼. Paris, 1927 September 6. To “Alejandro Zorrilla de San Martin of San Martin Montevideo” Montevideo, Uruguay. In French, translated in full: “Very sensitive to your flatterous thoughts, in French, friend of our country, I address to you, Sir, my distinguished remembrances”. Written on card below a photo (b/w, 5¼x3½) of his Belinògraph, the first fax machine. Accompanied by envelope face as well as two additional unsigned, related items. The third and fifth items remain untranslated. The fourth item contains the following message in French, translated in full: “Rene Baschet/ Illustration/ Paris/ I am happy to use the new mode of correspondence that created the “Message Telautographic” to thank you for the interest in “The Illustration” that is a testament to my work/ May 19, 1923”. French innovator Édouard Belin (1876-1963) invented the Belinògraph, which scanned an image on a cylinder with a powerful light beam that could be transmitted as an electrical impulse. It was on this principle that later fax machines were based. Belin transmitted a photograph from Paris to Bordeaux in 1907. In 1921, he sent the first transatlantic pictogram from his laboratory to Annapolis, Maryland. His equipment was adopted in Britain in 1928, and by the 1930s the news media were routinely transmitting photo images over long distances.Slightly soiled. One diagonal fold through photo. Otherwise, fine condition.