TWENTY AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED, MARCH 31, 1876 TO NOVEMBER 20, 1891, BY THE FAMED MECHANICAL ENGINEER AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS: ONE TO PROF. STILLE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THEN PROVOST, RECOMMENDING MR. H.T. BRIAN, FOREMAN OF PRINTING AT THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE IN WASHINGTON FOR A POSITION IN THE UNIVERSITY'S DEPARTMENT OF TYPOGRAPHY; EIGHTEEN TO J.H. RICHARDSON AND H.R. WORTHINGTON REGARDING ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHIC CUTS FOR HIS BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF THE STEAM ENGINE; AND ONE TO "CAMPUS, CORNELL UNIVERSITY" PROVIDING HIS AUTOGRAPH.
Letters in ink manuscript. Old folds, light toning and mild wear. Very Good.
1. Letter dated March 31,1876, to Prof. Stille at the University of Pennsylvania. On letterhead of 'Office of the Editor of the Reports of the U.S. Commissioners To The Vienna International Exhibition 1873, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ.' 10-1/2" x 8", folded to 5-1/4 x 8". [2], [2 blank] pp., docketed on final blank. "... you will need a good man as a Judge in the department of typography or typographic methods. Mr. H.T. Brian, Foreman of Printing at the Government Printing Office, Washington, informs me that he would be glad to serve in that capacity and I am requested to state to you my opinion of him. From my acquaintance with Mr. Brian while editing the Vienna Reports. I am led to believe him an expert in his business and a very good man for that place. Should the position not have been already filled, I would recommend a consideration of his claim , which, I think, Prof. Blake, who has known him longer than I may have already presented."
2. Eighteen letters, from Hoboken, April 20, 1877 to March 8, 1878, to J.H. Richardson and H.R. Worthington, all but one on the letterhead of Stevens Institute of Technology Department of Engineers. All concern Thurston's foundation work, THE HISTORY OF THE GROWTH OF THE STEAM-ENGINE [1878], which he is readying for publication. Most letters measure 5-1/4" x 8". Thurston requests specific illustration cuts and proofs, asks about matters relating to the history of the steam engine, locomotives, or steam navigation. Thurston is pleased with the proofs and the progress; he states that he would like proofs of John & Robt. S. Stevens, later noting that the Stevens family was well pleased when they saw the proofs of "old Col. John & Robt. S." Thurston asks Richardson to send his "artist on board the 'Rhode Island' of the Stonington or Providence Line and let him ask for Mr. Arastus Smith and secure from him permission and instructions about making a neat, intelligible drawing of the Sickles Cut-Off Valve Gear." Thurston lists cuts yet to be received; his last letter to Richardson states that he would like to see the recently mentioned cuts, but is "afraid the others will be too late as the book is going through press."
3. Letter dated November 20, 1891, to Campus, Cornell University. "My dear Sir: I regret that I am compelled to say, in reply to your note of 12th, that I never could write a good autograph. Yours very truly, Robert H. Thurston." 4-1/2" x 7", ink manuscript.
Robert Henry Thurston [1839-1903] was a well-known mechanical engineering professor. He graduated from Brown University with a certificate in engineering and soon after volunteered to serve in the Navy Engineering Corps during the Civil War. He was a professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology and developed a new curriculum for engineering education which he presented at the 1873 Vienna Exposition in Berlin where his articles were translated into German. He became the first president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1883. He was hired by Cornell University 1885 and served 18 years as the first director of Cornell's Sibley College.
J[ames] H. Richardson was an artist and wood engraver in New York City. His advertisement in the 1877 City directory describes his skill in preparing engravings of landscapes, portraits, machinery, buildings, engravings for publishers, authors and manufacturers.
H[enry] R. Worthington was a manufacturer of steam pumps, meters, and other hydraulic machinery. He built the first Worthington Double Acting Pump in 1844 and founded the Worthington Hydraulic Pump Works in 1845 with partner William H. Baker near the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. The company changed names in 1862 due to new partners, and it continued on after his death with his son succeeding him as a partner. Item #34463
Price: $750.00