December 31st, 1876, Thomas Edison first demonstrated the incandescent light in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Earlier that year, Edison had just built a state of the art new laboratory, and home in Menlo Park, to help isolate himself from the crowds.
I have a very uncommon Edison book, rather dificult to find today. This book printed a second time in 1889 (the first seven years earlier). It was then bound into a special library cover, and rented out with the Parmelee Library program. Parmelee would get subscriptions from towns, and send a batch of 50 books. Three months later, those books would be returned and 50 different books would be sent.
This was book number 350, and one of the most popular. It was “Edison and His Inventions, including an Electrical Dictionary” published 1889. This is a detailed and well written book about Edison, and written in his time. According to this book, Edison was considered the “Electrical King of the Nineteenth Century”. People had come to the realization that “Electricity has come to stay”, so they wanted to keep up on his inventions, and what electricity was all about. This book had an “Electrical” dictionary printed with the biography and discussion of his inventions, to help educate those still stuck on candlelight terminology.
The book was well documented with illustrations and discriptions of Edison discoveries.
There was also a few chapters on his life. He was born in Ohio, then moved to Michigan as a child. The book had illustrations of his parents.
Edison had a young job as a printer in 1859, using a train baggage car to print the Grand Trunk Herald, the first newspaper published on a train. However, early on, he started a fire, and was thrown off the train.
Soon after that incident, he had an argument with local editor, and was pushed off a wharf.
Even though this book is 135 years old, it is quite a story, as is the list of inventions that he created.
December 31st is the last day of the year. A time for reflection. I have the book “Bachelor Ballads” printed 1898. It is a collection of famous poems that are illustrated by Blanche McManus. The book’s theme is about a past time (his bachelor days), but also of the camaraderie of friends. The poems are quite good, and appropriate for today.
One full year has passed. Thank you for reading along on this three hundred and sixty five day tribute to daily events, and books from my library. There has been over 222,000 words written, displaying nearly 1,500 books. And there has been at least one topic, usually several, for every day of the year. There were connected together, usually clumsily – occasionally with a clever twist, to each other and to books. A few books popped up several times because of their usefulness in different stories. It is nice to have some go-to volumes.
For an entire year, it has been a treat to show off some of these books, but even more of a pleasure to re-discover them. Much time was spent on researching, then tracking down, reading, and sometimes re-reading, that took place long before actually putting words on paper. Those periods in the reading chair holding and flipping through both old and new tomes, with a notepad nearby, has been wonderful. I love reading…and surrounding myself with books. I hope I have inspired a little more reading, and for those who visit, not to be afraid to enter the library.
Tomorrow begins a new year. What will happen? The resolutions begin. Stay tuned.
Librarytomes 