American Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Pioneer Cyrus W. Field Signs The Catalogue Of A Naval Art Exhibition In Greenwich, Headquarters Of His Undersea Cable Venture

CYRUS W. FIELD (1819-1892). Field was the driving force behind the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean. After unsuccessful attempts in 1857 and 1858, Field succeeded in laying a working cable between Ireland and Newfoundland in August 1858, only to have it fail four weeks later. He finally succeeded in laying a working cable in 1866. Field then went on to help establish elevated railroads in New York City, and to collaborate with Jay Gould in various railroad projects. SB. 36pg. 4 ½” x 6 ¾”. No date. No place. A book signed “Cyrus W. Field” on the front cover. It is entitled Catalogue of the Portraits of distinguished Naval Commanders and representations of Their Warlike Achievements, exhibited in the Naval Gallery of Greenwich Hospital. London: William Clowes and Sons, 1853. It is ex-libris The Caldwell Collection, Library of Knox College, Galesburg, IL. Greenwich Hospital was a home for disabled Royal Navy sailors in the 18th and 19th centuries; the building later became the Royal Naval College when the hospital programs were moved elsewhere. From 1824 to 1936, the building hosted the National Gallery of Naval Art, now part of the National Maritime Museum. This book is the catalogue of an exhibition of naval commanders’ portraits shown in the gallery in 1853. Greenwich, a district of London, is noted for its maritime industries, including submarine telegraph cable. Glass, Eliot, & Company, which manufactured the 1858 and 1866 trans-Atlantic cables, and the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, which was responsible for the construction and installation of the successful 1866 cable, were both headquartered at Greenwich’s Enderby’s Wharf. His signature appears on the top margin of the front cover, which is made of paper.