Uncommon early biography of a great American inventor: The Life of Robert Fulton, by his friend Cadwallader D. Colden. First edition. NY: Kirk & Mercien, 1817. Hardcover bound in full calf with gilt-stamped title and decoration on spine, 6.25 x 9.75, 371 pages. In his introduction to the work, Colden declares: "The establishment of steam navigation will form an important epoch in the history of our species.—the name of the man who accomplished it will live to the remotest ages, if he be not robbed of the fame which is due to the employment of a superior genius, with surprising courage, industry, perseverance, and success." Book condition: VG-/None, with irregular stains to boards, a few minor losses to leather, moderate foxing throughout, frontispiece portrait absent, and the bookplate of Joel Davis Madden, Jr., affixed to front pastedown. A proponent of a national canal system, Colden would go on to serve as mayor of New York City from 1818 to 1821, before serving a single term in Congress.
Joel Davis Madden, Jr., left Princeton University in 1905 and moved west to make his fortune in the railroad industry. He went on to become an executive with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, and died suddenly in 1928 at the age of 41. His book collection, offered by his granddaughter, has not been publicly offered or privately sold in a century.
