^#137 ^Lot 142 Alexander Graham Bell

TLS, one page, 8 x 10.25, Beinn Bhreagh letterhead, July 31, 1917. Letter to A.W. Clime, Volta Bureau, Washington, D.C. In full: “Many thanks for your note of July 27, with the proof of the first three pages of the Hyde Book. I return these, with one correction. They are O.K. and I want it gone ahead with.” Double matted and splendidly framed under glass in a 22.25 x 17.75 x 5.5 wooden display case with parts of an original Cracraft Leich Electric Co. wall phone. To the left of Alexander Graham Bell’s letter is the wooden panel of the wall phone with two bells and the mouthpiece. Two cloth cords attached to two of the six terminals beneath the panel extend to right and through a metal reinforced hole beneath the letter. Two wires from two terminals join in the space above the panel, forming one cloth cord which extends through the top of the display case and to the left where a receiver is hanging from the left side of the display case. Mounted on the right side of the display case is the crank and handle. In very good condition, with scattered blocks of toning, including over text and signature, a stamp remnant to top right corner, and a bit of mild rippling.

In 1880, the French government awarded Alexander Graham Bell the Volta Prize for the invention of the telephone. Bell used the prize money to establish the Volta Laboratory in Washington D.C. At the Volta lab, Bell, known for his work in a variety of research subjects beyond the telephone, worked on many projects with a small staff. Arthur Clime served as research assistant and office steward for Bell at the Volta Bureau in Washington beginning around 1911 at the age of 26. As noted in Bell’s lab notes, Clime would serve as a very useful lab assistant throughout his employment. Clime continued to work for Bell in a volunteer capacity as a steward of important research materials and archives in Washington while Bell spent more time in at Beinn Bhreagh, his estate in Nova Scotia, Canada.