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The inventor of the telephone sends a telegraph message to Marconi in the mid-Atlantic, less than a year after Marconi himself had sent the first trans-Atlantic message from England to Canada (12 December 1901) and two months before the first such signal was to be sent from Canada to England (5 December 1902). To the "Manager | Marconi Wireless Telegraph Station | Sydney, C. B.", i. e. R. Norman Vyvyan: "I see by the newspapers that Mr Marconi is on his way across the Atlantic, and that he expects to receive messages from his Cape Breton Island Station. If this is so, I should be very glad if you would send him a message on the Atlantic inviting him to visit me in my Cape Breton home [...]". - Accompanied by a page from Leslie's Weekly for 2 September 1902 containing an account by Everett Wilkes of visits to both Vyvyan and Bell. Of his visit to Glace Bay he writes: "Mr Marconi was absent at the time of my visit, but his personal friend and chief of staff, Mr Vyvoyan [sic], to whom I presented my letters of introduction, received me cordially and talked freely on the great subject which he and his employer have nearest at heart. I was allowed to take pictures of the exterior of the station, but not of the interior of the receiving room, the most important part of the plant. During Mr Marconi's absence nobody is permitted to enter this apartment except Mr Vyvoyan [...] Mr Vyvoyan stated that the delay in commencing commercial operations was due to Mr Marconi's anxiety to have his system thoroughly tested before offering it to the public'. Our reporter then made a call on Professor Graham Bell 'which required a not very long journey to Glace Bay [...] There, for the last five years, during the summer months, he has been experimenting, and the goal to which he is looking forward is the construction of a dirigible flying-machine [...] It is perhaps an unfortunate thing for science that Professor Bell is now a wealthy man; otherwise he might work a little harder' [...]". - On headed paper, light dust-staining and creasing at right-hand side.