2006-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2006
MORSE, Samuel F.B. (1791-1872) American inventor in telegraphy, inventor of Morse Code and sent the first wire message 'What hath God wrought!' Autograph Letter Signed, "Saml. F.B. Morse" 2p. octavo, New York, December 10, 1868, to his brother in New Orleans, being a thinly veiled attack on Union Maj. General Benjamin Butler, who was despised by the residents of New Orleans, and given the nickname 'Spoons' for his confiscation of silverware as 'contraband.' Morse thanks his brother for sending a fork, clearly adding: "...I presume it would have been a spoon, had it been sent from any other place than New Orleans, but there are reasons why spoons are scarce in your city, and the only wonder is that forks...are not also scarce with you, seeing that the butlers of your establishment are slow & shy of forking over what belongs to you. Many thanks for the gift which I shall value more for the givers' than for its former imperial owner's sake...the pen is scarcely out of my hand from morning till night..." A fine glimpse of the humorous side of Morse. Fine.
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