W2501

Pioneers of Communication

Eadweard Muybridge & Ottmar Mergenthaler

Collins Cover Announcement 

PIONERS OF COMMUNICATION

EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE AND OTTMAR MERGENTHALER

Eadweard Muybridge was born in England in 1830 and moved to the United States in 1850. After becoming a skilled photographer, he was hired to prove that at some point of a horse's stride, all four feet were off the ground at the same time. He found, however, that the photographic process and lenses used at that time were unable to stop fast motion.

From that point on, Muybridge worked toward creating stop-motion photographs. Using rows of 12 to 24 cameras with rapid shutters, he was the first to capture a moving person or animal as a series of still photos. In 1880 he invented the zoopraxiscope which projected photographs printed on a rotating glass disk onto a screen in rapid, sequential order, creating the illusion of moving images. One of his famous early sequences showed a cat in motion and this is what I show projected on this hand-painted First Day Cover along with his zoopraxiscope.

Also featured on this COLLINS Cover is communications pioneer Ottmar Mergenthaler. Born in Germany in 1854, he emigrated to the United States in 1872. In the printing industry, many attempts to mechanically set type by hand had been unsuccessful. These futile attempts stimulated Mergenthaler to develop a mechanical typesetter. He did invent such a machine and when Whitelaw Reid of the "New York Tribune" saw a line of images produced from the new machine he exclaimed "It's a line of type!". Without realizing it, Reid had named Mergenthaler's invention for when Ottmar patented it in 1884 he called it the linotype. By dramatically reducing the cost of setting pages of type for printing, the linotype led to a drop in prices for newspapers, magazines, and books. It spurred expansion in all areas of publishing. Books and set type are components of my cachet that represent Mergenthaler's contributions.

I'm very pleased with the technical composition of this COLLINS Cover and the one coming soon for pioneers Ives and Dickson. And, the hand painting style is the perfect complement to the unusual color scheme of the stamps. A very nice two-stamp item for your collection paying tribute to communication inventors Eadweard Muybridge and Ottmar Mergenthaler. Item #W2501. $12.00

Summer 2026 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 23 W2501 — Communication Pioneers — Muybridge & Mergenthaler plus free FDC — 2/2/96

Several very interesting Pioneers of Communication are found in this sold:out cover — along with two additional communication standouts in the accompanying FREE FDC. Edward Muybridge was a skilled photographer and was hired to prove that at one point of a horse's stride, all four feet were off the ground at the same time. He found, however, that the photographic process and lenses used in the late 1800s were unable to stop fast motion. From that point on, Muybridge worked toward creating stop-motion photographs. One of his famous early sequences showed a cat in motion, and this is what is shown projected on the hand-painted first day cover along with the zoopraxiscope that he invented in 1880. The second pioneer on this cover is Ottmar Mergenthaler. In the printing industry, many attempts to mechanically set type by hand had been unsuccessful. These futile attempts stimulated Mergenthaler to develop a mechanical typesetter. He did invent such a machine and when Whitelaw Reid of the New York Tribune saw a line of images produced from the new machine, he exclaimed, "It's a line of type!" Without realizing it, Reid had named Mergenthaler's invention, for when Ottmar patented it in 1884, he called it the linotype.

The FREE cover (still in stock) in this mini-set of two features several more Pioneers of Communication — Frederic Ives and William Dickson. At the age of 18, Ives was head of the Cornell University Photographic Laboratory and began to develop the halftone printing process which used a series of minute dots. Other inventions by him were the trichromatic camera, the Kromskop color camera and the hi-cro color processor. During his lifetime he received 70 patents, and his work is preserved in the Smithsonian Institution. Dickson began his work in motion pictures with Thomas Edison who entrusted much of his work to Dickson in regard to creating a system for recording and reproducing moving photographic images. This collaboration led to the production of the kinetoscope, the forerunner of the motion picture film projector.