Untitled Document

“When the cat is away
the mice will work.”

EDISON, THOMAS A. (1847-1931). American inventor. Remarkable Printed Letter Signed, “Thos. A. Edison,” on his imprinted From the Laboratory of Thomas A. Edison letterhead. One page, quarto. Orange, New Jersey, August 18, 1913. Very fine condition. To “Morrison.” Edison writes:

“My wife left for vacation on 12th, she said I suppose when I am gone it will be the old story ‘when the cat is away the mice will work.’ She made me promise to join her on the 25th, so I will be unable to be with you. Regards to all the boys. Yours, Thomas A. Edison.”

In 1886, an enamored Edison married the young and lively Mina Miller, the daughter of a business acquaintance. Edison pursued Mina as he pursued his scientific endeavors — with a singlemindedness that brooked no distraction. He finally gained her father’s permission to wed her, which he did on February 24. After the honeymoon, Edison’s attention was drawn away from his new wife and back to his laboratory and business transactions. His sudden lack of utter devotion to Mina left her unsure of his love, and she was often lonely and melancholy. Twenty-seven years after their marriage, Edison’s letter to a friend explains he will be taking a break from his work to go on vacation with his wife — “she made me promise to join her on the 25th” — and therefore he will be unable to visit with him. Mina worried about her husband’s workaholic tendencies and was constantly persuading him to take a break. His long hours prompted her to follow him around his laboratory with a pillow and quilt, which she would lay out for him wherever and whenever he chanced to lie down.

In addition, Edison was working on the disk phonograph and the kinetophone when he wrote this letter. It appears that this letter was produced using the electric pen, another of his inventions. “The electric pen was a motorized, oscillating needle that made perforations in a wax paper stencil as a person wrote across it, creating a trail of small, dot-like perforations. The user then placed the stencil in a press over a clean sheet of paper and squeegeed ink through the perforations in the stencil onto the paper below. The device could make a thousand copies in this manner, and it enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the United States and in Europe. Late in the decade Edison patented significant changes, and in the mid-1880s A. B. Dick of Chicago acquired rights from Edison and marketed the ‘Edison Mimeograph’” (ANB).


“When the cat is away the mice will work.” EDISON, THOMAS A. (1847-1931). American inventor. Remarkable Printed Letter Signed, “Thos. A. Edison,” on his imprinted From the Laboratory of Thomas A. Edison letterhead. One page, quarto. Orange, New Jersey, August 18, 1913. Very fine condition. To “Morrison.” Edison writes: “My wife left for vacation on 12th, she said I suppose when I am gone it will be the old story ‘when the cat is away the mice will work.’ She made me promise to join her on the 25th, so I will be unable to be with you. Regards to all the boys. Yours, Thomas A. Edison.” In 1886, an enamored Edison married the young and lively Mina Miller, the daughter of a business acquaintance. Edison pursued Mina as he pursued his scientific endeavors — with a singlemindedness that brooked no distraction. He finally gained her father’s permission to wed her, which he did on February 24. After the honeymoon, Edison’s attention was drawn away from his new wife and back to his laboratory and business transactions. His sudden lack of utter devotion to Mina left her unsure of his love, and she was often lonely and melancholy. Twenty-seven years after their marriage, Edison’s letter to a friend explains he will be taking a break from his work to go on vacation with his wife — “she made me promise to join her on the 25th” — and therefore he will be unable to visit with him. Mina worried about her husband’s workaholic tendencies and was constantly persuading him to take a break. His long hours prompted her to follow him around his laboratory with a pillow and quilt, which she would lay out for him wherever and whenever he chanced to lie down. In addition, Edison was working on the disk phonograph and the kinetophone when he wrote this letter. It appears that this letter was produced using the electric pen, another of his inventions. “The electric pen was a motorized, oscillating needle that made perforations in a wax paper stencil as a person wrote across it, creating a trail of small, dot-like perforations. The user then placed the stencil in a press over a clean sheet of paper and squeegeed ink through the perforations in the stencil onto the paper below. The device could make a thousand copies in this manner, and it enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the United States and in Europe. Late in the decade Edison patented significant changes, and in the mid-1880s A. B. Dick of Chicago acquired rights from Edison and marketed the ‘Edison Mimeograph’” (ANB). For more details or to buy this item, please contact us. $4,600
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