With Edison at Schenectady.

Item Details

Schenectady [NY], William H. Butler, 1892

First, Very good

First edition. 125 photographs on 24 very thick card leaves (on rectos only and all leaves bound on stubs). The photographs, on printing-out paper, measure 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches (the largest) down to 55 x 55 inches. The thick leaves measure 11 3/4 x 9 inches. All photographs bear captions in the negative. William H. Butler, who was also the compiler, issued this very spendy publication in padded leather. This is our second copy. The padded leather was a poor choice and  is almost always found greatly deteriorated. This copy without the binding entirely and uses the title page (printed on the same heavy, un-bendable thick card as the photographs) as the front cover and this is quite visually appealing. Some minor soiling to front cover and a very small amount of foxing to margins. Overall, a very handsome and complete copy.

Edison, whose Machine Works factory was founded in 1881 in Manhattan, moved to Schenectady in 1886. In 1889, the works became part of Edison General Electric, which merged with Thomson-Houston in 1892 to form General Electric. So, in actuality, this album documents the founding of General Electric. In 1892 the name "General Electric" was unknown so Butler included Edison's name as it still had great cache around the world. By 1886 Edison was no longer active in the day to day management of his company. The images are both industrial (huge dynamos, etc.) and personal (workers, offices, etc.).