Phonograph Records And Books Auction - ONLINE ONLY
Lot 2026:
Description
This lot features two remarkable 19th-century hardcover books edited by J.B. McClure and published by the Rhodes & McClure Publishing Company of Chicago. The first is a red cloth-bound edition of Edison and His Inventions (1894), featuring a striking decorative cover, an illustrated frontispiece of a young Thomas Edison, an electrical dictionary, and a wonderful engraving of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition Electrical Building. The second volume is a half-leather, marble-paper-bound compilation from 1879 titled Mistakes of Ingersoll, which includes Robert G. Ingersoll’s famous lecture “Mistakes of Moses” alongside critiques by various religious scholars. Both pieces represent a fascinating snapshot of late-Victorian American scientific curiosity and theological debate. Visually, both volumes show age-appropriate wear; the red Edison book exhibits shelf wear to the spine edges, light corner bumps, and an early owner’s signature (“John Bowen”) on the flyleaf. The leather-bound Ingersoll volume shows typical scuffing and rubbing to the leather spine and corners, with moderate foxing and staining throughout the interior pages, though both remain structurally intact with tight bindings. Stacked together, the books measure approximately H 2.75″, W 8.75″, D 6″. Please see photos for condition.
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