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George Letchworth English June 14, 1864 ~ January 2, 1944 |
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This is a story about fortuitous timing and eBay. A recent and pleasurable addition to my mineral collecting is a search for mineral books autographed by their authors. On a regular basis I visit eBay and type into the search box “mineral signed.” One evening, in the summer of 2008, the results included an autographed book by mineralogist George Letchworth English. In addition, the seller added “as an extra” an antique cabinet photo card of a “Rev. Geo. English and his little girl.” The opening bid was $6.99. The “Buy it Now” option was $9.99. I bought it immediately. It was my hunch that the inscription on the back of the photo was simply misread. George English’s father was a minister, but I was not certain that the seller really had any idea of the history of George English or his family. When the book arrived, it proved to be much more of a treasure than I had expected. This autographed edition of the book, in which he inscribed “Dedicated to the pleasurable study of minerals - George Letchworth English,” turns out to be a special printing produced in Rochester, New York in 1934 by the Mineralogical Publishing Company (perhaps a private printing on his part?) In that same year, McGraw-Hill Company published the same book. Both books were published under the title, “Getting Acquainted with Minerals.” At the time of its publication, Mr. English was a consulting mineralogist working for Wards Natural Science Establishment in Rochester, New York. |
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The cabinet photo is a treasure in itself as well. Upon close inspection, one can readily see that the inscription on the back of the card is “Geo. L. English, & ‘little Gwendolen’ aged 2 yrs. 4 mos. taken July ‘93. For ‘Florence.’” the handwriting matches the signature in the book. In other words, George English inscribed the back of the photo. The cabinet photo was taken by, or at least at the studio of, Harry A. Webb, 1024 Arch Street, Philadelphia. Gwendolen was George English’s eldest child (the next two were Henry Rowland and Katherine Louise). In 1958, David Jensen - who was the consulting mineralogist at Ward’s at the time - updated and published a revised edition of English’s book. It is interesting to note that the copyright of the revised edition was held by Mr. Jensen and Gwendolen English Burleson. There are two portrait-style pictures of George English that have been published repeatedly. They are both of an older English. This portrait, seen above, is the earliest picture of Mr. George Letchworth English, a significant contributor to the field of mineralogy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This fine old book was only a few days from being dumped in the trash. The seller who posted it on eBay picked it up at a church yard sale in Maine. He said the picture grabbed his attention but the book itself didn’t seem to be all that interesting or important. His goal was to buy a book for a dollar and sell it for ten which is a pretty good return on investment. We’ll never know how many similar treasures are now rotting in a landfill.
For more information about George Letchworth English, please visit the following links: http://www.minsocam.org/msa/collectors_corner/arc/english.htm http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=319
~Darryl Powell, Manchester, New York November 2008 |