ALS, one page on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, Volta Laboratory letterhead, April 21, 1881. Bell pens a letter to a M. Breguet, likely a member of the prominent French family of inventors and scientists. In full: “I beg to enclose advance sheets of a paper read today before the National Academy of Sciences. The large cabinet & box of books arrived safely. I have also received advices concerning the [illegible, beginning with “gra”] machine. I look forward to your visit to America next year. Kind regards to Madame Breguet. In great haste, yours very sincerely, Alexander Graham Bell.” After receiving the Volta Prize from the French government in 1880, Bell used the proceeds to establish the Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C. In 1881, at the Volta Laboratory, he perfected the wax cylinder, in effect the first practical mass-producible phonograph record. A few months after penning this letter, following the shooting of James Garfield, Bell turned his immediate attention to developing a device that might be used to locate the bullet that remained in the stricken President’s head. Though Garfield finally succumbed, Bell’s invention is now recognized as the first metal detector. In fine condition, with vertical fold and toning at edges from previous matting. From the Glenn Ford collection.R&R COA.
