Rare illustrated antique 2024 (1920) 1st edition "Jack Heaton Oil Prospector" by A. Frederick Collins, who invented the wireless telephone, 1909

The author of this book, Archie Frederick Collins, was born in South Bend, Indiana, in 1869. He's best known for studying how radio waves effect the brain, and for his experimentation in wireless telephony, beginning in 1898. In 1903, he formed the Collins Marine Wireless Telephone Company, and in 1906 he received a patent for an improvement in the arc-transmitters for telephone circuits. He made radiotelephone transmissions in 1908 which went as far away as eighty-one miles. Guglielmo Marconi, who invented the radio, credited Collins with inventing "wireless telephony." Collins, both a physicist/inventor and an author, was one of Indiana's most prolific authors over his lifetime, with more than one hundred titles. This is 2024 one of them, and is one of the rarest.

"Jack Heaton Oil Prospector" was published by the Frederick A. Stokes Company of New York. This edition (the first) contains six illustrations by Charles E. Cartwright. The tissue-covered frontispiece is one. Red ink stamped owner's name (Norbert Klatt) appears on the front flyleaf. Very clean interior with some toning. No tears, losses, or foxing. Brown cloth-covered boards (rubbed, as is spine) with large black, orange, and blue drawing on front cover. Faded black titling on spine, and a circular marking can be seen on the lower part of the back cover.

Anyone familiar with Collins will very much appreciate this book, as will readers who enjoy historical fiction. It will also be treasured by rare book collectors, and any collectors of Indiana authors. Collins also wrote "Jack Heaton Gold Seeker" and "Jack Heaton Wireless Operator" which involve the same main character. Much of this book seems to be set in Mexico in the last years of the 19th century; it's a work of historical fiction.

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