French cardinal (1864-1940). Autograph letter signed. [Paris. Oblong 8vo. 1 p. Mounted on paper (oblong 4to).
$ 128 / 120 €
(85886/BN56561)
To the French inventor Édouard Belin, expressing his satisfaction with and gratitude for the first radiotelegraphic transmission to bear a message to Pope Pius XI, broadcast by the newly-founded Vatican Radio on the occasion of the Paris Colonial Exhibition in 1931: "Le cardinal archevêque de Paris est profondément ému à la pensée que le premier document reproduit à la station Radio de la Cité du Vatican, pour l'inauguration des appareils radiotélégraphiques Belin, apporte au Pape des missions et de la Paix, avec son filial respect, un témoignage de la fraternité en notre seigneur Jésus Christ et de l'espérance dans le progrès de notre Foi qui amènent des millions des visiteurs à ce Pavillon des missions catoliques, où vibre l'âme généreuse de notre belle Exposition coloniale".
- The Vatican Radio had been set up by Guglielmo Marconi and was inaugurated with the live broadcast of a call to prayer by Pope Pius XI on 12 February 1931. Édouard Belin (1876-1963) is the inventor of the Bélinograph, the first photograph transmission system. He successfully marketed his own teleprinter technology, which was apparently used in the Vatican. - Minimally creased due to the mounting..