| Title: | [Letter] 1912 March 21 [to] Mrs. Royer / Hudson Maxim. |
| Personal Author: | Maxim, Hudson, 1853-1927. |
| Date: | 1912 March 21. |
| Extent: | [3] leaves. |
| General Note: | The letter is typed on Hudson Maxim's letterhead with an address in Brooklyn, NY. A handwritten note in pencil at the top of the first recto states that Maxim was a noted inventor of high explosives and an authority on the science of literature. |
| Abstract: | Maxim responds to Royer's letter and request for his biography. With flippant humor, he declares that he is often mistakenly introduced as his brother, Sir Hiram Maxim or his nephew Hiram Percy Maxim, the inventor of the gun silencer; however, he declares, "I am not Sir Hiram Maxim, I never was Sir Hiram Maxim, I never expect to be Sir Hiram Maxim, and I never want to be Sir Hiram Maxim." He further states that he has made ten dollars to every one dollar that Hiram has made from his inventions. Maxim ends by suggesting, "Those who have heard of me will know who I am and those who have not will imagine that I am somebody anyhow, or I would not be there talking to them." An innovator and manufacturer of explosives used extensively in World War I, Maxim invented the first smokeless powder adopted by the U.S. government, a delayed-action detonating fuse, and high explosive bursting powder used in torpedo warfare. He also wrote Defenseless America [c. 1915] and The Science of Poetry and the Philosophy of Language. |
| Personal Subject: | Maxim, Hudson, 1853-1927--Correspondence. |
| Subject: | Speeches, addresses, etc.
Explosives--United States. |
| Geographical Subject: | Italy
Madison Square Garden (NY). |
| Recipient: | Royer, Mrs. |
| |
