Sold – Edison Praises an Author For a “wonderful imagination”

Charles Kassel was an attorney in Fort Worth, Texas and an author on matters of science, religion, spiritualism and philosophy. The Norge was a semi-rigid Italian-built airship that carried out what many consider the first verified overflight of the North Pole on May 12, 1926. It was also the first aircraft to fly over the polar ice cap between Europe and America. To people at the time, this exploit seemed like something out of Jules Verne, and reminded Kassel of a science fiction work he had read years before. In 1927, he wrote an article “Anticipating The Norge: A Forgotten Jules Verne.

I have read it with a great deal of interest, and think a worthy act has been accomplished in resurrecting it from its obscurity. Fuller certainly had a wonderful imagination

Kassel had a correspondence with Edison and sent him a copy of the article. Typed Letter Signed on his laboratory letterhead, Orange, N.J., October 18, 1927, to Kassel. “Allow me to express my appreciation of your thoughtful courtesy in sending me a copy of your paper “Anticipating the Norge” with which you have kindly complimented me. I have read it with a great deal of interest, and think a worthy act has been accomplished in resurrecting it from its obscurity. Fuller certainly had a wonderful imagination.” The Fuller referred to may have been early female science fiction write Alice W. Fuller.

It is interesting to see Edison, whose mind was a fountain of visions, praise this quality in others, saying that the author had “a wonderful imagination.”