This sales brochure for the New England Telephone has to be one of the very earliest sales brochure for the Bell telephone since the New England Telephone Company existed only from February 1878 to February 1879 at which time it was merged into other telephone companies.
Creative Commons LicenseJeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
This sales brochure for the New England Telephone has to be one of the very earliest sales brochure for the Bell telephone since the New England Telephone Company existed only from February 1878 to February 1879 at which time it was merged into other telephone companies.
A very early telephone switchboard as used in Coleman Street, London, 1879. From Kingsbury, The Telephone and Telephone Exchanges: Their Invention and Development (1915) p. 177.
A very early telephone switchboard as used in Coleman Street, London, 1879. From Kingsbury, The Telephone and Telephone Exchanges: Their Invention and Development (1915) p. 177.
"Professor Bell inaugurating the New York-Chicago Line, October 18, 1892." From Kingsbury, The Telephone and Telephone Exchanges: Their Invention and Development (1915) p 427.
"Professor Bell inaugurating the New York-Chicago Line, October 18, 1892." From Kingsbury, The Telephone and Telephone Exchanges: Their Invention and Development (1915) p 427.
Multiple switchboard, Liverpool. From the Electrical Review (London), October 18, 1884.
Multiple switchboard, Liverpool. From the Electrical Review (London), October 18, 1884.
A manual international telephone switchboard and its operators in 1943.

A manual international telephone switchboard and its operators in 1943.

Detail map of Boston, Massachusetts, United States,Somerville, Massachusetts, United States Overview map of Boston, Massachusetts, United States,Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

A: Boston, Massachusetts, United States, B: Somerville, Massachusetts, United States

The First Regular Telephone Line & the First Telephone Switchboard are Set Up in Massachusetts

1877
This very early Bell telephone sales brochure not only described the leasing terms for the equipment, but also had to explain to customers how to use the system and how to trouble-shoot the i
Creative Commons LicenseJeremy Norman Collection of Images - Creative Commons
This very early Bell telephone sales brochure not only described the leasing terms for the equipment, but also had to explain to customers how to use the system and how to trouble-shoot the inevitable problems that regularly occurred. Because the New England Telephone Company was in business from only February 1878 to February 1879 the brochure was probably published early in 1878.

Construction of the first regular telephone line was completed in 1877. It ran from Boston to Somerville, Massachusetts. Also in 1877, the first telephone switchboard was set up in Boston. On February 12, 1878 Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Thomas Sanders, and George L. Bradley, with money from investors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, set up the New England Telephone Company  at 43 Sears Building, Boston. One year later "New England Telephone and Telegraph merged with the Bell Telephone Company (which was started on the basis of holding "potentially valuable patents"), on February 17, 1879, to form the National Bell Telephone Company,[1] at which time Theodore Vail took over its operations. The National Bell Telephone Company merged with others on March 20, 1880 to form the American Bell Telephone Company" (Wikipedia aritcle on New England Telephone and Telegraph Company).

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