SAMUEL F.B. MORSE The artist and inventor signs this letter recommending that Congress purchase letters of General Henry Knox owned by a lady and wishing the courts would effectively put an end to the pirating of his telegraph invention. ALS: "Saml. F.B. Morse", 2p, 7¾x10. Po'keepsie, N.Y., 1849 July 23. To C.S. Daveis, Esq., Portland, Me. Daveis (1788-1865) was a prominent Maine attorney. In full: "Yours of the 17th inst I received on Saturday evening & this morning I called on Mrs Beekman and read her your letter. She feels that she has (as she undoubtedly has) a valuable deposit of papers, which ought to belong to the State or the United States Government. She is well disposed towards accommodating you with the sight and use of the letters of Gen. Knox. She says that the papers are contained in several boxes, and the search will be attended with some labor but that she will select out those of Gen. Knox and lay them by themselves. That she should be desirous of reaping pecuniary benefit from papers possessing so much value to the state, is both natural and proper, and she felt gratefully that part of your letter which promised her you did. read more...

ALBERT EINSTEIN This typed letter is signed by the physicist and framed in the Gallery of History style to a size of 34x20 Typed Letter Signed: "A. Einstein" in ink. 6½x8½ letter. One page. Letterhead from Knollwood, Saranac Lake, New York. Dated August 1, 1940. Sent to Dr. Alvin Johnson. In Full: "Mr. Hermann Broch has informed me that I may be asked about Professor Karl Feldmann of Leyden(Holland). My knowledge of Professor Feldmann's work, however, is not sufficient to give a valuation of it. I should be grateful if some papers by him would be sent to me. / With the expression of my highest appreciation of your admirable activities". Framed with two plaques and a 7x9 color reprinted painting by Rick Parks to a total size of 34x20. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was born in Ulm, Germany. When he was a teenager, his family moved throughout Europe due to his father's work. At various times in his life, he held citizenship from Switzerland, the Weimar Republic, and the United States. Most of his ground-breaking work in physics came well before WWII in the form of his special theory of relativity and his studies in the general theory of relativity. read more...

SAMUEL F.B. MORSE One year before he sent his first telegraph message, Morse signs an autograph letter to Treasury Secretary Spencer, requesting $600 to cover the cost of his lab and office. Important ALS: "Saml F.B. Morse", 1 page, 8x10. New York, 1843 May 18. To Secretary of the Treasury John C. Spencer, who has penned: "Approved/J.C.S." on verso of the integral sheet. In full: "I have engaged eligible rooms for my laboratory and Office at the rate of Four hundred dollars pr annum from the 1st of May instant, which I have the honor to submit for the approbation of the Honorable the Secretary. The sum contemplated in my estimates of the 10th of March handed in to the Department is Six hundred dollars." On March 3, 1843, Congress granted Morse $30,000 to build a telegraph line on poles. The law provided the money "for testing the capacity and usefulness of the system of electro-magnetic telegraphs invented by Samuel F.B. Morse of New York" so any other funds, such as rent for his laboratory and office, had to be applied for by Morse. read more...

LOUIS PASTEUR This framed handwritten letter was signed by the microbiologist and was sent to a boy who he treated for an illness Autograph Letter Signed: "L. Pasteur". One page. 3¾x4¾. Paris, January 21, 1888. On letterhead imprinted with his initials to "My dear child". In French, translated. In full: "I beg your father to allow me the pleasure of answering his letter of 13 January by writing directly to you. How saddened I was to learn you were still suffering from the wound to your arm. Tell me when it will be completely healed with scar. Your general health is, however, good. That is most essential and I rejoice with your parents and friends and hope you count me among them. Please receive, my dear child, the assurance of many many good wishes which I send you for your good health and happiness.". Pasteur sent this letter to a boy he had treated for rabies with an experimental vaccination. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was a chemist and biologist who is considered one of a handful of the most important pioneers of microbiology. read more...

ROBERT FULTON Fulton signed this document - buying 32 lots of land in the town of Jersey, New Jersey for $1,000 - in 1809. He signed it the same year that he filed his first patent for improvements in navigation by steam and one year after marrying his wife Harriet Livingston. Pieces by Fulton are rare in any form, and legal documents, like this, are doubly so. Accompanied by an unsigned engraving of Fulton based on an Alonzo Chappel portrait. Manuscript document signed "Robert Fulton". 3 pages plus docket, 7½x12¼, 2 sheets front and verso, with embossed Jersey Company seal and 1-inch square paper seal on page 3 by signatures. Nov. 3, 1809. This document was signed between Fulton and the president of the Jersey Company. Fulton agreed to buy a block of land containing 32 lots in the town of Jersey in Bergen County, New Jersey for $1,000. Fulton signed this document one year after marrying Harriet Livingston, his partner's niece, and the same year that he filed his first patent for improvements in navigation by steam. Fulton is scarce in any form and this is a fine example suitable for framing and display. Lightly toned, stained, soiled and creased. Random ink stains. Edges are torn. Pinholes in both sheets. read more...

HENRY DERINGER Rare handwritten note to his son saying "keep steady to your business and all will go right and straight" Autograph Note signed: "HD" and "H Deringer" in his hand as part of his son's name in the address, 2p, 7¼x9¾, front and verso. No place, no date, but circa 1833. Postscript written on verso of an address leaf addressed in his hand to his son: "John H Deringer Esq/Tioga Village/Tioga County/Penna". In full: "P.S. I am pleased to hear that you have commenced selling goods and that you are coming on so well, keep steady to your business and all will go right and straight." Ink note (unknown hand) on address side: "Henry Derringer [sic]/1833". Henry Deringer (1786-1868) invented the short barreled, heavy caliber pocket pistol that still bears his name. (The pistol type is spelled "Derringer"; only those of his manufacture are spelled with the single "r".) The popular weapon, easily concealable but packing a wallop, was "the weapon of choice of riverboat gamblers". John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln with an original Deringer. Deringer autographs are rare. Mailing fold at the "HD". Fragile. read more...

LOUIS CHEVROLET Extremely rare letter written as President of the Chevrolet Aircraft Corporation to an Assistant Engineer at Pitcairn Field in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Typed Letter signed: "Louis Chevrolet" as President of the Chevrolet Aircraft Corporation, 1¼p, 8½x11, separate sheets. Baltimore, Md., 1930 November 18. On company letterhead to Walter C. Clayton, Asst. Engr., Pitcairn Aircraft, Pitcairn Field, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. In part: "In regard to the first paragraph of your letter, we do not know exactly how much of a head the gasoline tank should have over the carburetor float, not having tried anything of the kind, but should judge that a minimum of six to eight inches would work satisfactorily on climbing. In level flight you probably will have plenty of gas head, and we are sending you a new blue print showing you where the float level is...As stated before, we have never contemplated using the Haywood Starter, but if it fits your scheme we will send a cylinder head to the Sky Specialties Company of Detroit and have them advise us the best place to put a boss in our cylinder head for the installation of their starter. read more...

SAMUEL F.B. MORSE One year before his first successful telegraph message, Morse signs an autograph letter to Treasury Secretary John Spencer, explaining that the cost of preparing the wire will be $10 more than his previous estimate. He'll still come in under budget! ALS: "Saml F.B. Morse", 1 page, 8x10. New York, 1843 May 1. To Secretary of the Treasury John C. Spencer. In full: "In my letter of the 29th ulto accompanying the contracts for the Telegraphic Wire, and the expenses of covering, I left a blank in the former which I observed was to be filled with a sum not exceeding 24 cents pr.lb. I have this moment heard from Paterson, and am enabled to fill the said blank with 22 cents. This varies the expense of Preparation of the Wire as given in my letter to the Department of 26th ulto from $1900 to $1910 - making the contracts for this part of the work of $690 less than the original estimates, instead of $700 - as therein stated." Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), a portrait painter and a founder and first President of the National Academy of Design (1826-1845, 1861), interested himself in the possibilities of a magnetic telegraph in 1832. He developed the Morse Code for use in the telegraph instrument. read more...

THOMAS A. EDISON The famous inventor penned a section of answers on this questionnaire! Printed Questionnaire filled out by an assistant who has signed: "Thomas A. Edison" at the conclusion, but with 11 words in Edison's hand, 1p, 7¾x10½. J.K. Macomber, Professor of Physics at the Physical Laboratory Agricultural College in Ames, Iowa, sent Edison and other authorities in the field, a printed questionnaire, dated September 27, 1879. Macomber message, in part: "The people of the Western States have been imposed upon by lightning-rod peddlers more, perhaps, than by any other class of swindlers. Among other rods being sold in Iowa is one known as the 'Chambers' rod, widely has been patented by the 'Chambers' National Lightning Protection Company,' of Cincinnati, Ohio. Briefly, this system consists on an Iron rod running along the ridge of the building with points at each end projecting upward…Many public buildings in thus State have been furnished with these rods…I beg leave to submit the following interrogations." Macomber lists seven questions for Edison to answer. read more...