Inscribed and signed photo of the film pioneering showing off photographs of the Lumière brothers and some early pieces of movie equipment. Photograph inscribed and signed: "To Mr. Marx Reimers/From/Francis Doublier/1894./Motion Picture Pioneer/April 20th 1941/Fort Lee, N.J." B/w, 7¼ x 9½. Doublier, who is surrounded by relics from the early days of motion pictures, has also initialed: "F.D." under a description of several pieces of equipment. In full: "Camera, printer,/projector used/in 1895 to 1900". He has also identified two photographs displayed around him: "Louis Lumière" and "Auguste and Louis Lumière". FRANCIS DOUBLIER (1878-1948), the first to see moving pictures projected onto a wall, signed and dated this photograph while Vice President of Major Film Laboratories, Inc. of New York. His photographic career began in 1894, when the 16-year-old became associated with brothers AUGUSTE MARIE NICOLAS LUMIÈRE (1862-1954) and LOUIS JEAN LUMIÈRE (1864-1948) and their experimentation with motion picture photography.

Typed Letter Signed: "Bertrand Russell". 1p, 7½x9. Penrhyndeudraeth (Wales, United Kingdom), 1963 April 27. To Jack Benjamin, Brooklyn, New York. In full: "Thank you for all your recent newspaper cuttings, which are of great value to me in my work. If I have failed for some time to acknowledge your great assistance I assure you it is not for want of gratitude, but merely through pressure of events. As you know, I have recently written several articles for American publications, and I am most interested to see repercussions to these in editorial and letters columns. With warm good wishes, Yours Sincerely," Bertrand Russell signed this letter of April 27, 1963 thanking one of his many supporters for clippings sent to him of recent articles Russell had published in the New York Times and the fierce reaction they generated. Russell had written these articles denouncing the hard-line, anti-communist stance of the United States government and its role in the Vietnam War. His articles, specifically "Is Communism a Menace?" (April 7), received hostile public response from most quarters; however, they did help to inspire the burgeoning American peace movement.

The Nobel Prize winning physicist apologizes for a missed appointment due to having been in his lab. Rare ALS: "P. Curie", 1½p, 5¾x4¼, front and verso. Faculté des Sciences de Paris, Cours de Physique, Paris, 1904 May 29. To an unnamed woman. Written from the Curie home at 108 Boulevard Kellerman. In French, translated. In full: "We sincerely regret Mme Curie and I having missed your appointment yesterday, which you granted us. I was in the laboratory yesterday at 5:30 in the evening. I found your letter but it was already too late and Mme Curie does not go to the laboratory at this time. Please excuse us and accept our sincerest best wishes." Five months earlier, Pierre and Marie Curie shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Antoine Henri Becquerel for discovering radioactivity and studying uranium. The Curies continued their work on radioactivity, but Marie did not go to the laboratory as often as before. She was then three months pregnant and radioactive material was not something of which to be in contact. The Nobel Prize brought the Curies overwhelming public popularity, to their dislike. The volume of visitors made it impossible for them to work with the reclusiveness they so much enjoyed.

The framed race car engineer signs a biographical page from a pamphlet. Pamphlet signed: "Ferrari", 8 x 11¼. Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988), whose name is synonymous with quality engineering, began his racing career in 1919 and soon became a test driver for Alfa Romeo. About 1939, Ferrari organized his own factory but was prevented from producing his own automobiles for four years because of a contract with Romeo, which feared competing against the famed Ferrari name. During WWII, Ferrari's factory was converted to produce ball bearings and other equipment. In 1947, however, Ferrari's first car with the prancing horse insignia debuted. A lifetime racing enthusiast, Ferrari produced few automobiles for private consumer sales until the 1953 debut of the 250 Europa, the first of the long line of Ferrari street cars that to this day remain highly valued as collectibles. Ferraris excelled on international racing circuits and garnered ten wins in the Formula One Constructors' Championship from 1956 to 1983 - more than any other make. Surface creases, otherwise fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 15 x 25¾. 8 photocopied pages of the pamphlet included on back of frame.

The professional racecar driver who co-founded Chevrolet signed this beautifully framed typed letter. Typed Letter Signed: "Louis Chevrolet" in black ink. 8x10 ½ visible of an 8½x11 sheet. One page. Framed with two descriptive plaques and an image of Chevrolet. Dated October 9, 1931. Letterhead from the Glenn L. Martin Motors Company. Letter in part: "I suppose you are wondering what is becoming of us, and our reduction gears drive motor…This summer we made two different reduction gears, which we tried, but they didn't prove successful, as we couldn't mount them securely enough on the nose of our present crankcase. This forced us to redesign the reduction gear for incorporation on a special crankcase, layout of which is now being completed. If nothing unforeseen happens I expect to have a motor with a new reduction gear running before long". Louis Chevrolet (1878-1941) was born in Switzerland, but moved to France as a boy and then Canada and the United States as a young man. He co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company on November 3, 1911, in Detroit, Michigan. After leaving Chevy in 1916, he co-founded a company named Frontenac Motor Corporation with his two brothers.

The famed mathematician sends a dinner invitation. Third Person ANS: "Mr. Babbage", 1p, 3½ x 3¾. Dorset St., (no year) May 23. In full: "Mr. Babbage will have the honor of dining with Mr & Mrs Strutt on Saturday the 11th June". Charles Babbage (1791-1871) is known as the "Father of Computing" for his ideas about building an analytical engine, the predecessor of the digital computer. He proposed operations research that involved the idea of using machines to perform routine mathematical operations, eliminating errors in human calculation. By 1825, he had developed a machine that was capable of calculating up to 20 decimals. Plans formulated by Babbage in the mid-1830s became the basis for the computers that emerged in the 1940s and 1950s. Lightly stained at upper right blank corner. Fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 27½ x 16¼. Frame exhibits wearing at corners.

Frederick Samuel Duesenberg wrote this letter on Duesenberg Motor Company letterhead in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1916. In it, he talks about his family and the engines he was building, including one for Barney Oldfield, the first man to drive a mile a minute in 1903. ALS: "F. S. D & family" in pencil, 2p, 8¼x10¾, front and verso. St. Paul, Minnesota, 1916 February 5. On letterhead of Duesenberg Motor Company to "Dear George Mrs B. & Mary", the Bird family of San Diego, California. In full, with original spelling and grammar: "Your most welcome letter rec'd several weeks ago and it found me in bed but was about over my pneumonia got out of bed three weeks ago and was out for two weeks & then had a touch of rhuematism & went back to bed for a week & this is my first day up. I havent been out of doors since the middle of Dec. We were sure pleased to get your letter I have spoken of you people so often that Mrs D feels she knows you quite well. We did think of coming out west this winter and should have done so but for the fact that we are so busy getting out motors for various purposes. We are building one for Barney Oldfield at Los Angeles. We are building some motors for the Navy Sea planes for the U.S.…"

The inventor of what is commonly known as rubber signed this check dated just weeks before his death Check Signed: "Chas. Goodyear" on a 2¼x6¼ check. Drawn from the Bank of the Metropolis in Washington D.C. for $200.00. Entire check visible. Included in the frame is a plaque and a black and white image of Goodyear, 6x8 visible. Total size 23¼x18. Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) received patent number 3633 from the U.S. Patent Office in 1844 for vulcanized rubber, a material that is waterproof, yet flexible. For this innovation, Goodyear was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1976. Each of us uses rubber in hundreds of ways every day. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was named after him nearly 40 years after his death. Fine condition. Framed to an overall size of 23¼x18.

A rare, typed letter, on stationery of Lumiére Laboratories, signed by Lumière during World War II. Rare TLS: "A. Lumière in French, 2 pages, separate sheets, 8¼x10½. Lumière Laboratories, Lyon, France, 1943 May 26. To Doctor Maurice Vernet, Paris, France. Fully translated. In part: "Excuse me for resorting to the machine to respond to your benevolent and encouraging letter. I don't write well, and I would not want to impose the boredom of deciphering my handwriting. I am so touched by your appreciation which consoles me against all ostracism. In offering me unanimously the Presidency of the Duchenne de Boulogne Academy, all my colleagues expressed esteem for me which moved me profoundly and which I will not forget. It makes me contemplate with great serenity the obstacles that are ceaselessly thrown in the path I pursue as well as the malicious insinuations of sectarians and conformists who refuse to pay attention to my work…As for me, the duties which confront me and which are very heavy for my 80-year old body, keep me here. Every day, in fact, we receive at the Clinic the sick, often coming from very far despite the difficulties of transport and who regret my absence when, unusually, I am forced to cancel some consultations.

The man who pioneered the concept of the space shuttle writes about space travel. Autograph Manuscript signed: "By Dr. Wernher von Braun" in title, 1p, 8¼ x 10½ ruled sheet. Manuscript page, which is written in pencil, is part of a longer manuscript ("1" written by von Braun at upper margin). Headed: "Space Travel/by Dr. Wernher von Braun/Chief, Guided Missile Development Division//Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala." In full: "There are few dreams of the future which have woven so fascinating a web around human fantasy as flight through space. Since the first, epoch-making experiments of the great American pioneer of rocketry, Robert H. Goddard; since the days when Hermann Oberth, the German, and the Russian Constantin E. Ziolkovsky published their startling writings on rocket propulsion, a veritable spate of literature has overwhelmed the public. This has covered the entire field ranging from serious, scientific dissertations to comic strips. Thus, the intelligent layman outsider who is at tempting to sift the actual promises of space flight from idle conjecture frequently finds himself more confused than before he began to [word crossed out] study space flight literature.…"

Sigmund Freud signed this typed letter to his nephew, publicist Edward L. Bernays, in 1924 on his personalized stationery. In it, Freud discusses family finances and thanks Bernays for a case of coffee. Typed letter signed "Sigm". Pencil marks on page 2 in unknown hand. 2 pages, 5¾x8¾, 1 sheet, front and verso, on Freud's personalized stationery. May 11, 1924. In German, translated. In part: "Also in May, I lent you 150 dollars, so that your mother's assets with me are now 460 dollars. Thus, three further months are paid for. I would suggest that you send a larger amount of money here after these three months... The case of Washington Coffee arrived undamaged on 30 IV. I very much approve of you deducting the price for that upcoming royalties. I didn't expect the coffee to be so expensive, however, I received your book from Boni & Liveright. As a real American, I was very interested in it...". We believe that this letter was written to Edward Bernays, Freud's nephew, as it mentions sending money to an "Onkel [Uncle] Alexander". EDWARD L. BERNAYS ()1891-1995, born in Vienna, Austria) was an American publicist and the first publicist to incorporate Sigmund Freud's ideas on psychology into public relations and advertising.

Typed DS: "Thos A Edison" as Director, 1¼p, front and verso, 8x11. West Orange, N.J., 1925 June 11. Countersigned: "Charles Edison" as Chairman, "Fred W. Roh" as Assistant Secretary (initialed "HE" by Howard Eckert, Secretary) and "H.F. Miller", "J.V. Miller" and "Henry Lanahan" as Directors. "Minutes of a Meeting of the Board of Directors of/the Edison Storage Battery Company". Two resolutions were passed, one concerning the leasing of a portion of the second floor at 702 Beacon Street, Boston for three years at $170 per month, the other relating to tax audits and Internal Revenue Laws. The Edison Storage Battery Company was organized in New Jersey on May 27, 1901 to develop, manufacture and sell Edison's alkaline storage batteries. It produced batteries for mining lamps, train lighting and signaling, submarines, electric vehicles and other uses. The company had its own research department and sales force, but it also sold batteries through separate sales companies, including the Edison Storage Battery Supply Company and Miller Reese Hutchison, Inc. Thomas A. Edison, Inc. was incorporated on January 27, 1896 as the National Phonograph Company, then reorganized and newly incorporated as Thomas A. Edison, Inc.