first edition, octavo, 24 pp., dis-bound, lacking wrappers, illustrated, scattered foxing to text, else very good. One of the earliest printed works on the telegraph. Vail was a partner of Samuel F. B. Morse in the invention and pioneer promotion of telegraphy. The present work contains one of the earliest printings of the 1844 revision of Morse's telegraphic code, here described as a "Specimen of the Telegraphic Language," which under the name "American Morse" became the standard code for use within the United States and Canada. Vail first met Samuel F. B. Morse at the University of the City of New York, where he was a student and Morse a professor. Vail witnessed one of Morse's first demonstrations of his electric telegraph and was immediately impressed with the possibilities of Morse's invention. Vail was a skilled mechanic, and offered his services to Morse in exchange for a share in the invention. He also agreed to try and obtain financial backing from his family for Morse's venture.  A partnership was formed and a contract signed on September 23, 1837. Vail and another partner, Leonard Gale, made several improvements to Morse's apparatus, and on January 6, 1838, this new telegraph was successfully demonstrated, employing an early version of Morse's dot and dash code. When in 1843 Congress approved the construction of an experimental telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington Vail acted as Morse's chief assistant and received Morse's "What hath God Wrought" message on May 24, 1844. The following year Vail published two accounts of the telegraph, the present work and a book entitled The American Electro Magnetic Telegraph..., the present pamphlet in all likelihood preceeds the larger book. Eberstadt 112:024; Howes V-5; Sabin 98292