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ALS signed “N. Tesla,” one page both sides, 5.5 x 8.5, The Gerlach Hotel letterhead, January 26, 1894. Handwritten letter to his friend Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of The Century Magazine, on the first photographs taken with phosphorescent light. In full: "From the samples your artist showed to me to-day I think that we can obtain excellent photos. His ingenious scheme of combining with the phosphorescent light a flash will no doubt succeed. I have seen some defects in the method we have employed last time and think that the next time we shall do better. I shall arrange for an other trial, but I think that we must perform a few more experiments before we come to a definite result, such as would be a credit to your magazine and to your article. You must therefore give us all the time you can." In fine condition.
In September 1892, he moved into the Hotel Gerlach—now known as the 'Radio Wave Building'—where he lived before the end of the century and experimented with radio waves in 1896. The modern dwelling befitted the eccentric inventor, as it was fireproof and equipped with elevators, electric lights, and sumptuous dining rooms. During this period, Tesla developed the first practical phosphorescent lamp, and would take the first photograph to be illuminated by phosphorescence—an image of Tesla himself holding the bulb in a rather dimly-lit room—in the weeks preceding this letter.
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