Generateur Serpollet: Exposition Universalle 1889.

Paris: Eug. Unsworth & Cie., 1889. First edition. Oversize trade [or display] card (7 1/8 x 4 7/8 inches). French. Recto printed in red and black; verso in black. Four illustrations. A beautiful survivor.The front of the card bears woodcut illustrations of the four applications for Serpollet’s new steam engine; boat, generator, tricycle and car [Phaeton a Vapeur], The rear bears contact information, capitalization, list of applications and general information. One of the addresses has been professionally redacted (Pagasins; 5, Avenue de l’Opera). Serpollet called his company the "Societe des generateurs a vaporisation Instantee"This appears to be the sole surviving item of ephemera from Leon Serpollet’s early career. Nothing remotely akin to this can be found in OCLC or in the Bibliotheque National. One of the very first advertisements for an automobile and, as such, very rare and very important.Leon Serpollet and his brother Henri, early French steam car pioneers, worked together to perfect the flash tube boiler that introduced an efficient and new way to produce steam. The exact date that their innovative system was first built appears to be unknown, but after further development it went on to make steam power in an automobile more practical because of its advanced design and quick steam output. “In 1887 Serpollet had caught Armand Peugot’s attention when he had built a single-cylinder steam engine almost entirely of scrap parts and fitted it to a pedal tricycle. Armand subsequently provided financing to Serpollet to create the world’s first steam-powered tricylce. In 1889, at the World’s Fair in Paris, Serpollet introduced his invention [as presented in this card], making Peugot one of the pioneers of the proto-automobile” (S. E. Ante, Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital). At that Fair, Leon Serpollet saw Karl Benz’s Motorwagon 3, now acknowledged to be the first automobile. Realizing the importance of the car, Serpollet changed direction. In 1898 the brothers met a wealthy investor named Frank Gardner, and together they formed the Gardener-Serpollet Company. Shortly afterwards, they introduced one of the best-engineered early steam cars to be found in the automotive marketplace.Serpollet's flash-tube or mono tube boiler as it is also known, turns a small quantity of water into steam quickly and it also has the ability to provide a continual supply to the engine when correctly designed. The new boiler also reduced the long period of time it took to get a conventional unit up to a useable pressure. Linking it to the advanced four cylinder engine Serpollet designed, resulted in a fast and powerful performer. The Gardener-Serpollet success story soon resulted in Leon Serpollet setting a new World Land Speed Record at 75.06 mph on April 13, 1902, driving the “Easter Egg” in Nice, France. By this time the road near Paris had become too rough and too short for the speeds being reached, so Serpollet used the now famous Promenade des Anglais at Nice. He had already been successful in racing, and took several of his best cars to Nice in 1902. A contemporary report said the car looked like a boat turned upside down. However odd it looked he covered the kilometre in 29.8 seconds and was credited with 75.06 miles an hour. He then turned his attention to producing the Gardner-Serpollet and the Serpollet Steam Tram until his death in 1907.