Sold – Thomas A. Edison’s Theme of Hard Work

Edison is well know for his advocacy of hard work. He has been widely quoted as saying, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration”; “The harder I work, the luckier I get”; “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”; and “I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work." Yet despite this emphasis, his letters relating to the value of work are more than rare; a search of auction records going back three decades showed not one.    

Very uncommon early Autograph Letter Signed, Orange, N.J., September 27, 1887, to Hiram Felver, who was experienced at mechanical drawing and was applying for a job. "Your letter to Mr. B. referred to me. Of what works are you foreman of – what kind of work – are you a tool maker etc., give me some idea of what you can do. There is plenty of chances here for a man that has ability & push." The Mr. B. referenced was Charles Batchelor, Edison’s right hand man, closest laboratory assistant, and a business partner during the 1870s and 1880s.    

In 1887, the Edison lab, newly esconced in West Orange, was working on improvements to phonograph and records, while establishing a very extensive commercial business in the manufacture and sale of these items. It also patented a dictating machine and shaving machine. It installed a system of wireless telegraphy on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and worked to improve its wireless system of communications between ships at sea, ships to shore, and ships and distant points on land. So indeed there was plenty of work for an industrious man    .

Correspondence concerning Felver’s application is in the Edison Papers. It indicates that Felver followed up with the specifics Edison requested, and that by December 1887, he was told a job was his. Perhaps it did not work out; at least the Edison Papers records his name no further.