Lot Details
Lot 148
CROOKES, JOHN PHILIP EDWIN Letters from the Steamship "Narva" written by the late John Philip Edwin Crookes while engaged in laying the electric cable between Cuba and Florida in the discharge of which duty he lost his life Sept. 22, 1867.
London: [William Crookes], 1868. Gilt decorated brown morocco leather, gilt lettered front board, gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, bound by H. F. Gyde. 7 1/8 x 4 1/4 inches (18 x 12 cm); [2], xiii, [3], 60 pp., illustration in text. Light wear to spine ends and corners, a dried drip of clear glue at spine not associated with any restoration, front board slightly bowed, spotting to contents.
John Philip Edwin Crookes, an engineer on the steamship CS Narva, worked to lay an electrical cable between Havana Cuba and Key West Florida for the India-Rubber and Gutta Percha Telegraph Company. His letters from the journey recount how the project was plagued by difficulties, including bad weather, sailing off course, losing the cable, and yellow fever, which is what caused Crookes' early demise. The book was published, edited and apparently typeset by his brother, the eminent chemist William Crookes. Rare, with no past auction records as per RBH and ABPC, no copies currently offered in the trade as per Vialibri, and only four institutional examples as per Worldcat.
C The Collection of Jay I. Kislak sold to benefit the Kislak Family Foundation
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