Autograph letter signed to Latimer Clark

Brett, Jacob. A.L.s. to Latimer Clark. London, September 18, 1882. 2- pp. 181 x 114 mm. Remains of mounting present. Provenance: Latimer Clark.

Regarding Clark's request for a portrait photograph. Jacob Brett was the younger brother of John Brett, the head of the Magnetic Telegraph Company in England and one of the co-founders of Cyrus Field's Atlantic Telegraph Company. In 1850 John and Jacob Brett laid the first undersea cable between England and France. This failed after one garbled message (a French fisherman cut the cable, thinking it was a new variety of seaweed), but in 1851 the Bretts laid a much stronger cable that remained in use for many years.