Description:

Morse Samuel



Samuel F.B. Morse ALS Displayed with Rare & Valuable Photo by Abraham Bogardus

 

1p ALS inscribed overall and signed by American artist, inventor, and philanthropist Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872) as "Yr Ob Sevt. / Saml. F. B. Morse." Framed in a floating mount to the right of a period photographic print of Morse taken by Abraham Bogardus, showing the aged scientist seated next to photographic equipment. Handsomely displayed in a mahogany-finished frame with beveled taupe colored mat. Not examined out of frame. Frame size overall measures 16.75" x 13.5" x .5". Condition: The letter has a paper clip ghost impression at top, some light folds, and a slightly deckled left margin, else near fine. The photo has some isolated areas of minor in-filling, and the mat has several minor wrinkled corners. A few superficial scuffs to the frame, else near fine.

 

Samuel F.B. Morse wrote this letter on January 25, 1870 from his home at 5 West 22nd Street in Manhattan's Flatiron District, located kitty-corner to Madison Square Park. Morse would die of pneumonia there a little over two years after declining this invitation from New York financier Charles Butler (1802-1897).

 

In part:

 

"Dear Sir,

 

I regret exceedingly that I am obliged to decline your kind invitation for Thursday evening next. I have already accepted provisionally, another invitation for that evening, and as the proviso related to the weather, in connection, with my lameness, the prospect is that I shall be debarred from attending any other than my usual home gathering.

 

With sincere respect

Yr Ob Sevt.

 

Saml. F.B. Morse."

 

The sepia-colored photograph of Morse was taken by New York-based photographer Abraham Bogardus (1822-1908), circa 1872. In the studio portrait, Bogardus referenced both Morse's pioneering work in daguerreotyping and his long-time interest in photography by positioning Morse next to a large box camera and glass negatives. Morse's facsimile signature appears at the bottom of the cream stock mat gilt-embossed with a scrolled frame.

 

Abraham Bogardus was the co-founder and first president of the National Photographic Association. Morse donated his first camera to Bogardus in 1871; it was later acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.

 

Samuel F.B. Morse studied at Yale University before settling on an artistic career, training under American expatriate Benjamin West in Europe. Morse worked as an itinerant artist along the Eastern seaboard, and during one of these trips, his wife died in childbirth. This personal tragedy spurred Morse to invent a more immediate form of communication than letter-writing. Over the next twenty years, Morse focused on researching and financing what would eventually become the single-wire telegraph and Morse code. Morse's first message "What hath God wrought" was transmitted over 38 miles of experimental cable between Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland in May 1844. He received his telegraph patent three years later. In later life, Morse dedicated himself to work and charitable giving.

 

Charles Butler was a lawyer, investor, and humanitarian with a strong connection to New York University. Butler was an instructor there, and president of its council at the time of his death. Butler's son Ogden also attended the school.

 


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