MORSE SAMUEL FB Autograph Letter Signed to University of the

Sale 2609 - Lot 105

Price Realized: $ 1,188

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Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 2,000

EUROPEANS "HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OF EXPERIMENTING ON THE SUBMARINE CABLE" MORSE, SAMUEL F.B. Autograph Letter Signed, to University of the City of New York (NYU) Professor Vincenzo Botta, thanking for sending an article by [Director of Telegraphs in Sardinia, Gaetano] Bonelli, returning the article after having made a copy [not present], agreeing that a translation of the article could be useful, and adding that in America there is little opportunity to do research into insulated submarine and subterranean cables. 2 pages, 8vo, ruled paper, with integral blank; minor smudging affecting one word on first page, folds. New York, 10 March 1858

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". . . [T]hanks for your . . . sending me Signor Bonelli's article in the Genoa Courier Mercantile, and also for your brochure on public Instruction in Sardinia. . . .
"In regard to the translation of Bonelli's article, it may not be amiss as it may . . . obviate the difficulties, [of] which I have been aware for some years . . . but which I am confident will yield to the research & inventive energies of those who have the advantage of experimenting on the submarine cable.
"We have no such facilities for research or experiment on this side of the water, as we have no submarine nor subterranean conductors."
Until the first transatlantic cable connecting Canada and Ireland successfully transmitted electrical signals in August of 1858, there was little confidence in the existing designs for a perfectly insulated submerged cable. Before the transatlantic triumph of his company American Telegraph, Cyrus Field had made some promising attempts in Newfoundland, and, among the developments in Europe, efforts by the Mediterranean Telegraph Company had led to the successful connection of Sardinia and Algeria two months after the first transatlantic cable, led by the engineers Jacob Brett and Gaetano Bonelli.