first edition Wraps
1904 · New York
New York: Consolidated Steamship Lines -- Hudson Navigation Company. Printer: The Frank Presbrey Company, 1904. First edition. Wraps. Near Fine. An attractive celebratory brochure for an overnight service steamship that carried passengers between New York City and Albany. The steamer C.W. Morse is here called "the Queen of the Inland Fleets of the World, for she is not only the largest, but in every point of comparison the most luxurious steamer ever constructed for reibver navigation." 4to. 27.5 by 23 cm. Unpaginated, 20 pages. B/W photos on about half the pages, with a two page spread in the center showing the impressive side of the ship. Scarce. Only known institutional holding at the Hagley (acc. to OCLC First Search). Charles W. Morse (1856-1933) was a controversial businessman who became known as the "Ice King" in New York for attaining a near monopoly on the ice business in the city in the days before the modern refrigerator. His attempt to corner the market for shares of Copper United was responsible for causing the Panic of 1907, after which he was forced to divest himself of his extensive banking interestes as well as being convicted on multiple counts of breaking banking law. Later he would attain a pardon by feigning illness. Later he would be prosecuted for war profiteering. While winning an acquittal in the criminal trial, one of his company's was slapped with a civil judgment in favor of the government in the amount of $11.5 million. Morse's interests in shipping run throughout his career -- his beginnings were in shipping lumber and ice from Maine. In 1901 he formed the Eastern Steamship Company by combining three different steamship companies, and in 1902 he acquired the People's Line between New York City and Albany, and is the line celebrated in this brochure. The company continued to expand by additional acquisitions until 1907. The steamship assets were shuffled and reorganized afterward, with the business going into actual receivership oin 1914. Condition: light wear to wraps around edges. Clean inside.
(Inventory #: 006196)