The Long Island Telephone Co. ... List of Subscribers connected November 15, 1882. WITH ADDENDA To Subscribers List of November 15, 1882 WITH List of Subscribers Connected February 20 to April 1, 1883
Brooklyn [ NY ]: The Long Island Telephone Co. 1882-1883. First Edition. Three pamphlets. 32 pages (last blank), stitched, plus grey printed wrappers. + ADDENDA four pages (last blank), self wrappers. + eight pages (last blank), self wrappers. All 8vo. Preserved in a custom cloth clamshell case. Pamphlets folded as if for mailing. Minor soiling overall. First pamphlet with paper repair to lower right cover not affecting text and several small tears with professional repairs. Very Good. Wraps. [26314]
An exceedingly rare grouping of early telephone directories for the Long Island Telephone Company. The Long Island Telephone Company was incorporated after September 24, 1881 and by October 2, 1882 was operational having been granted a sub-license to operate in Long Island by the Metropolitan Telephone and Telegraph Company (who derived its authority directly from Alexander Graham Bell patent licenses in October 1, 1881).
These directories and addenda date from November 15, 1882 to April 1, 1883. The company was absorbed (along with the New Jersey Telephone Company) into the New York and New Jersey Telephone Company by June 15, 1883 after operating for less than two years.
We have been unable to trace any other examples from this company. We've traced only three multi-page directories in the 1880-1883 time period, each in a single instance (Newport and Suburban Telephonic Exchange. Newport, R.I., 1881; Subscribers of the Dayton Telephone Exchange, June, 1881; and American District Telegraph Co., Chicago Telephone Directory c1880). The first multi-page telephone directory (1878, New Haven, CT) sold for one hundred forty thousand at Christies, New York, in 2008.
All directories from this time period are rare, and deserve careful consideration. They are valuable research tools, highlighting early technology adopters (both consumer and business) and can be an excellent source for scholars who trace the evolution of an early communication medium that had tremendous impacts. The fact that callers in the Long Island Telephone directories could connect with others in NYC, upstate NY and NJ is unusual. It could be considered a regional exchange in that sense, rather than simply a district as is the case with the first NYC central office system, the New Haven district and the Newport districts.
A fine addition to any serious private or institutional collection.
ITEM SOLD