All the windows were shaded
with the possible exception the first floor windows flanking the fireplace.
417 See figures and 51; Voucher 319, 1888 may document this purchase.
415 The Evening Sun, February 11, 1889.
Window shades were probably used the library the late 1880s; they were
definitely installed 1895.. The photograph shows both cone-shaped fixture designed
to hold five light bulbs and white bell-shaped fixture with one large bulb; these
were suspended from the roof the center the library.412 When the 1889 birthday gift was presented, a
newspaper account stated "the air was heavy with the perfume flowers, which
were every nook and corner the room, and great palms and tropical plants
stood here and there and added the beauty the room."414
412 Figures 49, 50, 84, and 85.
414 Dyer, Martin, and Meadowcroft, Edison: His Life and Inventions, 643.
Original carpeting the library consisted triplet ofwell-worn rugs,"
according description published the New York Times. The first shades were purchased June 1888, and
another group more expensive shades were purchased 1890, but the purchase
vouchers not indicate where the laboratory these shades were installed.
Dickson’s ca.1895 photograph the earliest image show overhead lighting
fixtures the library.
418 Voucher 672, 1888; Voucher 329,1890. Edison’s youthful appearance in
123
."415 Small oriental
style rugs are pictured all historic photographs taken after 1889, though is
possible that larger rug was purchased for the center the room the early
twentieth century.417 single bulb without shade fixture hangs alcove
in yet another undated photograph the library...license, photographic evidence also indicates that potted plants were placed on
desks and tables the room."413 Edison’s desk was
sometimes photographed with potted plant placed the top shelf, and Dyer and
Martin relate: "In the middle distance, between the entrance door and [the] statue,
has long stood magnificent palm, but the present writing has been set
aside.
413 The Evening Sun, February 11, 1889. The library was
furnished with collection oriental carpets part Edison’s birthday gift, but
the invoice for these carpets has not survived. The Evening Sun's report the
gift, however, mentions "thirteen thick, soft Smyrna rugs.416
The shades were dark, probably green color. The fixtures appear in
another early undated image, but the bulbs have been removed from the bell-
shaped fixtures
