[D8970ABS], Letter from Queen (James W.) & Co to Thomas Alva Edison, September 18th, 1889
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Title
[D8970ABS], Letter from Queen (James W.) & Co to Thomas Alva Edison, September 18th, 1889
Editor's Notes
Philadelphia, Sept. 18th, 1889####Mr. Thomas A. Edison.####We have transmitted your claim to the maker of the photographic apparatus recently sent you, but as we desire to obtain some further particulars to transmit them to him. We wish to ask whether the amount which you charged us for alterations included the altering of the holders or inside kits to suit the American size of plates, as certainly we could not charge him for such alterations. In a letter received from him, dated Aug. 9th, he says: " what you wrote concerning the state of delapidation of the Micro-photographi apparatus surprised me as muh as I find it vexing. You are however wrong in attributing the mischief to seletion of bad wood. It is curious at any rate that cases of all the wood work ccracking and warping do not occur in Europe: yet the material is the same in all cases. There must be some thing in your climate which renders the use of wood a rather critical question. I say mention that one of your country- men, a Minnesota Professor, would have no wooden table at all, saying that Minnesota was too dangerous a place for that sort of thing. If that is how your client's apparatus came to grief-I do think it is--it is not fair to make either you or me responsible for the humours of his climate. As it is, the price of the Photo-micrographic apparatus has been reduced to such a degree as to render a hardly profitable part of our business. I think you need not allow the defects, nor can I onsider the charging of the amount of H2O to our account satisfactory. It is a bad business when it omes to mines :-- As to the Kits, I think they are not worth considering. Any joiner can make them for a few ents. It is to be regretted that Americans have not our system of plate -measurement..But you must admit that it will be cheaper to have the Kits made there than have them sent over by us."####Yours truly,####JW Queen & Co####Dst Co####P.S. We think you will find Mr. Zeiss's estimate of the dryness of our climate to be somewhat highly colored! Will you kindly advise us whenever whether the goods, after they were unpacked, were placed in a heated room, so that they would be specially liable to warp or split by drying out of the wood!
Author
Recipient
Mentioned
Date
1889-09-18
Type
Subject
Folder/Volume ID
D8970-F
Microfilm ID
128:448
Document ID
D8970ABS
Publisher
Thomas A. Edison Papers, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University