Rare partly-printed DS, signed “Thos. A. Edison,” one page, 14 x 5.5, May 12, 1888. Stock certificate for five shares in Edison Phonograph Works issued to "Alfred O. Tate," signed at the conclusion by Thomas Edison as president, and countersigned by Alfred O. Tate as treasurer. Retains the receipt on the left side. Gorgeously cloth-matted and framed with a portrait and plaque to an overall size of 29.75 x 21. In fine condition. Alfred O. Tate was Edison's associate and private secretary; he published a biography of the great inventor, Edison's Open Door: The Life Story of Thomas A. Edison, in 1938.
In 1877, when Edison invented the phonograph, the first device for recording and playing back sound, he thought that its main use would be to record speech in business settings, which could then be played back and transcribed. Beginning to improve upon the phonograph and recording media in the 1880s, Edison pioneered the use of wax cylinders as a means of sound recording and reproduction. Edison's phonograph would eventually be adopted primarily for entertainment purposes, bringing music into millions of American households. A holder of over 1,000 patents, Edison considered the phonograph to be his favorite invention.
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