This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/20/2022
BELL, Alexander Graham (1847–1922). Typed letter signed (“Alexander Graham Bell”) to Lyford Biddle, 2 January 1902.
One page (273 x 216 mm), 8vo, on National Geographic Society letterhead, old folds, small institutional stamp on verso.
Bell informs Mr. Biddle that he had been nominated by Edwin P. Grosvenor of New York City for membership into the National Geographic Society and was unanimously approved by the Board. Bell was one of the original founders of the Society in 1888, serving as the President from 1898 to 1903. Edwin P. Grosvenor was brother to Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875–1966); the son–in–law to Bell and the first full–time editor of National Geographic magazine who served the organization for 55 years. Bell and Gilbert Grosvenor devised the successful marketing notion of Society membership and the first major use of photographs to tell stories in magazines.