As the first kites ascended into the skies of China over 2,000 years ago, the story of human flight began its epic evolution. James Cummins presents an exciting chronicle of the history and legends of aeronautics, from the pioneering balloon flights of the Montgofier Brothers to the Space Age. Highlights include a first edition of H.G. Wells’ The First Men on the Moon, inscribed to his literary mentor, W.E. Henley; a striking,1908, inscribed photograph of Wilbur Wright in flight at dusk; and a handsomely bound first edition of François-Louis Bruel’s, Histoire de L'Aéronautique par les Monuments, Peints, Sculptés, Dessinés et Gravés des Origines à 1830.
London: Simpkin, Marshall, [n.d., 1888]. NO OTHER COPY RECORDED. Collection of stories of British and Anglo-Indian life and adventure, including The Indian Mocking Lark; Navigating the Air (about a balloon expedition in Newcastle); Monkeys; Snakes and other Philistines; and Publishers; and with a verse afterword, To a Sun-Dial; with ads..... Read More about Under Two Shillings
Price: $1,000
Fresno: Wilson Press, Inc, [1958]. Seventeenth Printing. INSCRIBED. Inscribed on ffep, "To Norman Martin-/ With Warmest Regards-/Always-/ Pappy Boyington." AND ABOVE: "Masajiro "Mike" Kawato Japanese WWII Ace 19 Victories/ I shot down Col. Greg/ Pappy Boyington/ Jan. 26, 1982." Read More about Baa Baa Black Sheep...by (Col. Gregory Boyington, USMC, Ret
Price: $1,250
Milan: Museo Caproni, 1938. First edition, one of 600 copies (500 of which are hors commerce, 100 for sale). Read More about L'Aeronavtica Italiana Nell'Immagine 1487-1875. Bibliografia di Giusepee Boffito, con aggiunte di...
Price: $1,500
Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, Doran, [1944]. First edition. Read More about Wings for Per
Price: $150
Dropped from plane “En Route”; envelope postmarked “Boston, Mass.”: July 25, 1932. Honoring George Washington and the U.S. Postal Service. Doolittle, the aviator who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for leading the bombing raids over Tokyo in World War II, writes: “I am making a flight over as many..... Read More about Typed Letter, signed (“J.H. Doolittle”), to U.S. Congressman James M. Mead, explaining his...
Price: $500
Paris: Chez Cuchet, rue & hôtel Serpente, 1783. First edition. The first standard work of an aerostation, UNCUT. Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741-1819), was a very successful lawyer whose interest in natural history led him to become a geologist. He developed his own theory of volcanoes in the massive folio..... Read More about Description des Expériences de la Machine aérostatique de MM. de Montgolfier et de celles...
Price: $3,000
New York: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, Inc, 1935. First edition. Faulkner's novel about an airplane contest in New Orleans during Mardis Gras. Read More about Pylon
Price: $500
Shanghai, China: The Comacrib Press, 1931. First edition. A lovely copy of this curious Shanghai imprint. Born in Milwaukee, Forman studied at the Layton School of Art and then the University of Wisconsin from where he graduated with a degree in Oriental Philosophy. He drew on both of these in..... Read More about Do You want to Fly?
Price: $1,000
ca.1962. SIGNED BY THE FIRST FOUR COSMONAUTS. A photograph of the first four Russians in space, signed by each of the cosmonauts; from left to right: Gherman Titov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, and Yuri Gagarin. Gagarin became the first human to travel in outer space on April 12, 1961, when..... Read More about Group photograph signed by the first four Russian cosmonauts
Price: $2,500
London: Chatto & Windus, 1931. First edition, no. 167 of 210 copies, signed by the author. A beautiful and exotic tale of an airplane crash by novelist and critic David Garnett (1892-1981), son of Constance Garnett, a member of the Bloomsbury set, and Literary Editor for The New Statesman and..... Read More about The Grasshoppers Come
Price: $200
Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Instiution, March 16, 1936. First edition. An important marker in the development of rocketry and space flight, the pamphlet sums up Goddard's pioneering work in rocketry over the previous two decades. On March 16, 1926 Goddard launched the world's first liquid propellant rocket, from a site near..... Read More about Liquid-Propellant Rocket Development
Price: $3,500
Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution, 1919. First edition. Foundations of Rocketry and Space Flight. One of the earliest publications on rocketry and space flight, and "the most influential and important of Goddard’s scientific papers ... The short treatise offered detailed mathematical proof that solid propellant rockets were capable of boosting modest..... Read More about A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes
Price: $9,500
Phialdelphia: David McKay, (1929). First Edition. Read More about Pilot's Luck. Drawings by Clayton Knight. With excerpts from stories by Elliott White Springs,...
Price: $150
Half-Way House / Steyning Road, Rottingdean: 4 October 1933. A Plea to TE Lawrence re the Memory of Albert Ball. Baring discusses the recent appearance of and furor over a new book on the WW I flying ace Albert Ball, [CAPTAIN ALBERT BALL VC DS, by RH Kiernan], which Baring..... Read More about Autograph Letter signed ("Maurice Baring") to T.E. LAWRENCE
Price: $2,250
London: Chatto & Windus, 1926. First Edition, # 76 out of 110 copies, signed by the author. With ALS from Montague to Mr. Rogers talking of this book. Read More about Rough Justice
Price: $125
Northfield, Minnesota: May 24, 1961. A report by the G.T. Shjeldahl company-- the maker of the first communications satellites, Echo I and Echo II, launched by NASA in 1960 and 1964-- on the promise of the use of inflatable structures in space. Includes several photographic plates showing such structures, as..... Read More about "House Committee on Science and Astronautics Erectable and Inflatable Structures in Space"
Price: $250
U.S.S.R: ca.1962. A color portrait postcard of cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev (1929-2004), who became the third cosmonaut in space when he piloted Vostok 3 in 1962. He flew again on Soyuz 9; in both instances he set new records for endurance in space. Read More about Photo postcard signed, a color portrait of the Soviet cosmonaut in military uniform
Price: $750
N.p: Dated “March 1945”. Pleissner, Ogden. Inscribed to Alfred Eisenstaedt. Inscribed "To Alfred [Eisenstaedt] with best wishes / Ogden Pleissner." Read More about Pencil Sketch of two airplanes on a landing field
Price: $1,750
New York: Random House, [1937]. First edition. Read More about South by Thunderbird
Price: $200
New York: Dec. 10, 1930. 'Capturing an Enemy Aeroplane'. A letter from one of the era's most elebrated adventurer and photographer recounting his capture of an enemy airplane, reading in part: “In regard to your question “What was your most successful adventure.” The answer to that is capturing an enemy..... Read More about Typed letter signed "Carl von Hoffman" to "Seymour Halpern in response to...
Price: $100
New York: Sept. 30, 1942. A letter written by the renowned Russian ace and world record setting Sikorsky test pilot, on behalf of Danish-born ballet and Broadway dancer, Paul Haakon, considered by many to be one of greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. Reading in part: “I have known..... Read More about Typed letter signed ("Boris Sergievsky") to ("Whom it May Concern"
Price: $200
[Ft. Myer, Virginia: 1908. Signed by Orville Wright in the upper right hand corner. The photo was taken by Collier's photographer J.H. Hare during one Wright's exhibition flights at Ft. Myer, in Arlington, Virginia in the late summer and fall of 1908. Read More about Photograph of the Wright Flyer in flight, signed by Orville
Price: $2,000
[Le Mans, France: J. Thézard, 1908]. Inscribed by Wilbur Wright. Inscribed by Wilbur Wright in white ink: "To George Quick/28 November 1908/Wilbur Wright." A striking image of Wilbur Wright in flight at dusk during one of his seminal exhibitions near Le Mans, France in 1908. George Quick was the personal..... Read More about Photograph of Wilbur Wright in a Wright Flyer at twilight
Price: $21,000