AERONAUTICS

[Lord Thomson, Minister for Air in Ramsay MacDonald’s Labour Government.] Typed Letter Signed (‘Thomson’) to Sir Reginald Hart, praising his ‘advanced views on politics’.

Author: 
Lord Thomson [Christopher Birdwood Thomson] (1875-1930), army officer and Minister for Air in Ramsay MacDonald Labour Government, killed in R101 airship disaster [Sir Reginald Clare Hart (1848-1931)]
Publication details: 
2 April 1924; on letterhead of 12 St James’s Court, Buckingham Gate, S.W.1 [London]
£38.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to ‘Dear Sir Reginald’. After sympathizing with him on his indisposition he writes: ‘I always felt that you really had more advanced views on politics than most of the Generals in the British Army, and what you say in your letter does not surprise me therefore in the least.’ He ends with regards to Lady Hart and the Harts’ daughter. Autograph postscript: ‘Ps. Ps. forgive type written letter.’

[ College of Aeronautics, Cranfield. ] 'Secret' typed thesis, with 71 diagrams, on the interception of atomic bombers, titled 'Turning Performance and Manoeuvrability of Aircraft at Supersonic Speeds by Lieutenant (E) R. A. Langley, Royal Navy'.

Author: 
Lieut-Commander R. A. Langley, Royal Navy [ College of Aeronautics, Cranfield; Nuclear War; Atomic Weapons ]
Publication details: 
The College of Aeronautics, Cranfield. May 1952.
£1,250.00

The problem with which the thesis deals is summed up at the start: 'If war broke out in the near future, attack by atomic bombers would become an immediate possibility, and one of the biggest problems would be the defence of this Island, which, with its areas of dense population, particularly around its essential industries, would present many ideal targets to the enemy. It would, therefore, be essential to destroy, or attempt to destroy, each enemy bomber before it reached the coast.

[The Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd.] Printed illustrated brochure for 'The "Bristol" Titan Aircooled Aero Engine ['Series II']', accompanied by eleven black and white publicity photographs (four of the engine and seven of Bristol airplanes).

Author: 
The Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd., of Filton, Bristol [originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company] [aeronautics; aeronautical; aircraft]
Publication details: 
The Bristol Aeroplane Co., Ltd., Filton, Bristol. [Brochure printed by 'Edward Everard, Broad Street, Bristol.] [Circa 1928.]
£150.00

The Bristol Aeroplane Company was an early and important innovator in the field of aircraft design and development. Four variants of its Titan engine (I, IIF, II Special, and IV) were produced in 1928. The present brochure and photographs are contained in a large manila envelope, with 'The "Bristol" Aeroplanes' printed in green on front. The photographs are all in very good condition, and all measure around 18 x 23.5 cm. The brochure is 4pp., 4to, printed in brown on a bifolium of cream paper. It is in good condition, with a little wear and creasing.

[Offprint.] The Wilde Lecture. V. The Mechanical Principles of Flight. By the Rt. Hon. Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. Delivered February 13th, 1900.

Author: 
Rt. Hon. Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt (1842-1919), 3rd Baron Rayleigh, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics] [The Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society]
Publication details: 
Manchester: 36, George Street. 26 April 1900. [Manchester Memoirs, Vol. lxiv. (1899), No. 5; Memoirs and Proceedings of The Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society 1899-1900.]
£95.00

26pp., 12mo. Stitched. In remains of original printed wraps. On aged paper, in chipped wraps, with several leaves loose. An important work in the history of eronautics by one of the great experimental physicists of the nineteenth century. Excessively scarce: no copy of this offprint in the British Library or on COPAC. 'In this lecture Rayleigh discusses the method of calculating the mechanical forces on a plane presented obliquely to a current of air, so far as this can be done. At best, the calculation is very incomplete.

Mimeographed printed notice to Fellows of the British Interplanetary Society by Arthur C. Clarke, as 'A.C. CLARKE, Chairman of the Council', regarding a reorganization of the Society's finances at a 'vital period in the development of astronautics'.

Author: 
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer and Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society, 1946-7 and 1951-3
Publication details: 
The British Interplanetary Society, 'Secretarial address: 157, Friary Road, London, S.E.15.' 1 July 1947.
£50.00

1p., 8vo. A fragile piece of ephemera, on aged paper, with wear at head (not affecting text). The notice begins: 'For several months past the Council has had under consideration the question of the Society's finances since it has become apparent that our annual income is insufficient to ensure a continuous and regular flow of publications.' References follow to 'donations from private members', an 'enforced summer recess', 'the acquisition of library shelves, desks and other fittings'. Two reasons are given in justification of the doubling of the 'Fellowship subscription'.

[Printed pamphlet.] Mémoire Descriptif d'un Brevet d'Invention pour une Machine Volante dénommé Avion Militaire de Grand Combat Vitanval en faveur de M. Leon Louis Laforge Prince Laforge de Vitanval. Second Partie. Traduit de l'Espagnol.

Author: 
Leon Louis Laforge, self-styled 'Prince Laforge de Vitanval' and 'Grand Master of the Knights of Saint Leon' [aeronautics; flying machines; airplanes; aviation; inventions]
Publication details: 
['Au Ministerio de Fomento a Madrid. Le 25 Mai 1916 sous le No. 62.342'.] Madrid: Artes Gráficas "Mateu". Paseo del Prado, 34. 1916.
£125.00

4to, 22 pp. In original green printed wraps. Frontispiece photograph on art paper, inscribed in bottom right-hand corner 'A M. Maggs Bros booksellers | Souvenir de la guerre | Pce. Laforge de Vitanval | Madrid 12 Aout 16'. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. No diagrams. The invention is described as 'un Aéro-frein ou frein automatique pour aéroplanes et toutes espèce de machines volantes, empêchant le capotement des appareils, en cas d'accident ou d'arrêt subit du moteur'.

[Book] Der Fallschirm: seine geschichtliche Entwicklung und sein technisches Problem

Author: 
Gustav von Falkenberg
Publication details: 
Berlin, 1912 [Bibliothek fur Luftschiffahrt und Flugtechnik, band 8].
£150.00

[192]pp, 8vo, including three pages of advertisements, corners bumped, hinge strain front endpaper, mainly good condition. Ex lib Royal Aeronautical Society (bookplate inside cover) with library shelf marks on half-title and elsewhere. Inscribed by the Author as follows, With the best thanks and compliments | of the author | Gustav von Falkenberg || (see p.5, 6, and 92). These page references indicate that the deicatee is T. O'Brian Hubbartd who features on these pages.

[Manuscript notebook of an anonymous English plane spotter, containing detailed entries of planes coming in to various airports in southern England between 1947 and 1950. In notebook containing publicity material for the Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd.]

Author: 
[British plane spotting in the 1940s; Ingersoll-Rand Co. (air compressors and pneumatic tools)]
British plane spotting in the 1940s
Publication details: 
Compiled between 1947 and 1950. [Ingersoll-Rand Co., Limited, 165, Queen Victoria St., London, E.C.4]
£450.00
British plane spotting in the 1940s

12mo, 133 pp. Hundreds of neat entries, in a small hand, written lengthwise on graph-paper pages in a red-cloth 'Memoranda' book ('Compliments of Ingersoll-Rand Co., Limited, 165, Queen Victoria St., London, E.C.4.'). Good: with text clear and complete on lightly-aged paper, in the original worn red binding. Many entries are dated (with a few also giving the dates on which various planes crashed), and among the airports referred to are Northolt, Yeovil, Radlett, Cowes, Rochester, Guernsey, Jersey, Peterborough, White Waltham, Hanworth Park, Elstree, Cranfield, Luton.

Reports and Translations No. 234. The Hydrodynamical Fundamentals of Heat Transfer.

Author: 
Alexis von Baranoff [Ministry of Supply (Air), Völkenrode]
Publication details: 
M.O.S.(A) [Ministry of Supply (Air)], Völkenrode: June 1946.
£150.00

Not published. Cyclostyled on the rectos only. 8vo: 165 pp followed by 28 pages of 'figures'. Contained in a buff 'Apex Vertical Filing Folder'. Very good, on aged paper. Complete and clear. Stamped 'UNCLASSIFIED' on front cover, with manuscript reference 'GVC/54T'. Preface reads 'The present work is the English rendering of a partly revised German manuscript which the Author prepared for the Leipzig publishers Bibliographisches Institut to be published as volume 49 of their series Meyers kleine Handbücher.

Original hand-coloured print, with key, showing 'A View of the Balloon of Mr. Sadler's ascending, With him and Captain Paget of the Royal Navy from the Gardens of the Mermaid Tavern at Hackney on Monday Aug 12 1811'.

Author: 
[James Sadler (1753-1828), balloonist; the Mermaid Tavern, Hackney; balloons; ballooning]
Publication details: 
[Circa 1811.]
£500.00

Originally on a piece of paper roughly 405 x 315 mm, with the dimensions of the print roughly 295 x 250 mm. In poor condition: torn and stained and laid down on a piece of thin card, and with the extremities of the margins chipped. Loss to top-left and bottom-right corners. The loss to the top corner includes a corner of the print (roughly 40 x 20 mm), but this only features the sky. A scarce item, with the caption continuing 'The Balloon ascended at 3 O clock in the afternoon and descended safe near Tilbury Fort in Essex at 20 Minutes past four'.

Advertisement, with photographic illustrations and diagram, entitled 'The "Bristol" Bombay. Bomber - Transport - Troop Carrier.'

Author: 
The Bristol Bombay Bomber-Transport [Royal Air Force; aviation; aeronautics]
Publication details: 
Temple Press Ltd., Bowling Green Lane, London, E.C.1. 6062-39'. [1939]
£56.00

8vo bifolium: 4 pp. On art paper. Unbound. On aged and creased paper. Clear and complete. Arranged as a magazine article, with the text in two columns. Six photographs of the exterior and interior of the plane. Two diagrams, including one full-page and extremely detailed cross-section, captioned 'The Bristol Bombay Bomber-Transport | (Two 1,010 h.p. Bristol Pegasus XXII motors).'

12 Typed Letters Signed (all 'W Barnard Faraday') to Sir Henry Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, and his colleague G. K. Menzies.

Author: 
Wilfred Barnard Faraday (1874-1953), economist and aeronautics expert [Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain]
Publication details: 
3 February 1917 to 11 October 1918; all but two on letterheads of the Royal Aeronautical Society of Great Britain.
£100.00

One of the letters is 4to, 2 pp; ten are 4to, 1 p; and one is foolscap, 1 p. The collection is in good condition, on lightly aged paper. Many of the letters are docketed and most bear the Society's dated stamp. Written in the capacity of Secretary of the Aeronautical Society, and editor of its 'Official Organ - The Aeronautical Journal'. Topics include the hiring of the Royal Society's hall for two series of talks to the Aeronautical Society. Faraday also discusses the details of a lecture by 'Mr.

Stead's Wonders of Science Series. The Story of Flying Machines. The Conquest of the Air. With eleven specially selected illustrations.

Author: 
T. W. Scott [William Thomas Stead's Publishing House; Wonders of Science Series; aircraft; aeroplanes; aeronautics; ballooning]
Publication details: 
London: Stead's Publishing House, Bank Buildings, Kingsway, W.C.2. Printed by W. & J. Mackay & Co., Ltd., Chatham.
£76.00

Octavo, 48 pages. Stapled. In faded original orange printed wraps. Nine pages of illustrations, including three on wraps. Good, on aged high-acidity paper. Wraps a little stained. Unobtrusive ownership inscription at head of front wrap. Illustrations include two full-page balloons and 'A modern sea-plane: the Burgess-Dunne type'. Twelfth illustration (diving English biplane) on front wrap. Scarce: no copy on Copac.

Twenty-one Typed Letters Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Captain John Laurence Pritchard [The Royal Aeronautical Society]
Publication details: 
Between 1931 and 1934; all on letterhead of the Royal Aeronautical Society, of which Pritchard was secretary.
£100.00

Novelist and writer on aeronautics (1885-1968). All items one page, quarto. As a whole good, though grubby, but some items with pin holes, closed tears, etc. Most bearing the R.S.A. stamp and some docketed. Three items with enclosures. The items are dry communications relating to the arranging of R.A.S. lectures at the R.S.A.

Three Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed Letter Signed to Kenneth Luckhurst, Secretary, and G. P. Griggs, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, together with four unsigned carbons of Typed Letters from them to him.

Author: 
Sir Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith [AVIATION]
Publication details: 
1949-51; three on letterheads of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
£200.00

Historian of aviation (1909-81) at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Eight items, various formats. Very good. LETTER ONE (two pages, octavo, 14 January 1949, on V & A letterhead): 'As a very new fellow of the Society I hesitate to burden you with reading the enclosed [an article on 'Father Gusmao: the first practical pioneer in aeronautics', not present], but I thought there might be some chance of its appearing in the Journal. It is too historical for the Roy. Aeronautical Society's Journal and too aeronautical for the others, so I am stuck!

Catalogue of the well-known collection of Ballooning and Aeronautical Prints and Drawings, the Property of Col. R.L. Preston

Author: 
Sotheby and Co
Publication details: 
20/03/62
£45.00

Printed wraps, illus.., fold mark mainly affecting covers, mainly v.g. NO estimate or price lists

CATALOGUE OF THE WELL-KNOWN COLLECTION OF BALLOONING AND AERONAUTICAL PRINTS AND DRAWINGS The Property of Col. R. L. Preston, C.B.E.

Author: 
[BALLOONING AND AERONAUTICAL PRINTS AND DRAWINGS] Sotheby & Co's auction catalogue of Col. R. L. Preston's collection
Publication details: 
[sale of 20 March 1962]; London: Sotheby & Co. 34 and 25 New Bond Street, W.1.
£50.00

8vo. Pages [2 +] 120. In good condition. Printed green wraps with crease along length of front wrap. Many illustrations. 'INDEX OF AERONAUTS' on verso of last leaf. An invaluable scholarly resource.

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