FLYING

[Claude Lovat Fraser] Illustrated handbill for two of his publications.

Author: 
[CLAUD LOVAT FRASER]
Publication details: 
Without date or place [1916].
£55.00

Printed on unwatermarked tissue paper. Dimensions of paper roughly seven and a half centimeters by eleven and a half. A very good copy of a frail and ephemeral item. An attractive illustration by Fraser of an ivy-clad wall memorial topped by a cherub encloses the following 'There are Published | I. Farewell to the Faeries, by Richard Corbett. | II. Three Poems, by Kenneth Hare. | Decorated and Published by C. Lovat Fraser, and can be obtained from Everard Meynell, 46 Museum Street, W.C. | [short rule] | Price SIXPENCE each, net.' See Image.

[First Canadian First W.W. flying ace: Redford Mulock] [Air Commodore Redford Henry Mulock], aviator.] Autograph Letter Signed, supplying a 'signature' to ‘Gibson’, while referring to their time together at Westgate 'in the early months of 1915'.

Author: 
First Canadian flying ace of the First World War, and the first in the Royal Naval Air Service: Redford Mulock [Air Commodore Redford Henry Mulock (1886-1961), CBE, DSO & Bar], aviator [Gibson]
Publication details: 
‘July 22. 29 [1929] / Winnipeg / Canada’.
£120.00

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, but with the blank reverses of the two leaves both carrying traces of glue from previous mounting, and slight damage and loss at the foot of both. Good firm signature. Reads: ‘Dear Gibson - / I have just received your note asking for my signature. I think you were at Westgate in the early months of 1915 when I was. I wonder how you are getting on these days. I do hope that the scouts are all right and going strong & that you yourself are in the best of health & spirits / Yours very Sincerely. / Red. H. Mulock.’ See Image.

[Sir Dermot Boyle, Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Chief of the Air Staff.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Dean’, regarding a signed photograph he is sending in place of a ‘very bad one’ which he urges him to destroy.

Author: 
Sir Dermot Boyle [Sir Dermot Alexander Boyle] (1904-1993), Marshal of the Royal Air Force and Chief of the Air Staff
Publication details: 
9 August 1963; on letterhead of Pauls Place, Sway, Hampshire.
£50.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. At the foot of the second page, in another hand (no doubt that of the recipient) are written Doyle’s details in red ink. Signed ‘D. A. Boyle’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Dean’. He is returning the photograph he has sent, ‘endorsed in the way you ask’, but his wife agrees with him that ‘the photo you have got hold of is a very bad one so I am sending you another - also enclosed - which I hope you will use for your collection and destroy the other’.

[Winifred Brown [Winifred Sawley Brown, later Adams], aviatrix, the first woman to win the King's Cup Air Race.] Autograph Signature ('Winifred Brown.') with short inscription.

Author: 
Winifred Brown [Winifred Sawley Brown, later Adams] (1899-1984), aviatrix, explorer, sportswoman, yachtswoman, in 1930 the first woman to win the King's Cup Air Race
Publication details: 
21 October 1931. No place.
£23.00

On one side of 8.5 x 11 cm piece of grey card, with rounded corners. In good condition, lightly aged. Neatly and simply written out (in response to a request for an autograph), reading: 'Best Wishes | Sincerely | Winifred Brown.' Date by Brown at bottom left. Endorsed in pencil at head: 'First woman to win King's Cup Air Race | 1930'.

[London Gliding Club, Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire.] Manuscript 'Progress Log Book' of '[L Sennett?]', containing details of training flights with signed comments by instructors including J. M. Hands, G. R. Williams and J. Wingett.

Author: 
London Gliding Club, Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire [J. M. Hands, G. R. Williams and J. Wingett, instructors]
Publication details: 
London Gliding Club [Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire.] Entries dating from between 8 August 1960 and 11 June 1962.
£320.00

21pp, 12mo. In unpaginated stapled booklet of twelve leaves, in light-blue wraps. Printed on front cover: 'London Gliding Club | PROGRESS LOG BOOK', with space for the trainee's name and no. In fair condition, aged and worn, in worn covers, with one central horizontal fold. The trainee has written his name on the front cover, but this has been worn away, and it appears to read 'L Sennett' or 'L Bennett'. Printed on the first page is a list of twenty-four 'Flying Training Exercises'.

[ Sir Alan J. Cobham, English aviation pioneer. ] Circular printed letter in the form of a facsimile of a signed letter by him, thanking the recipient for making 'our Air Display a success'.

Author: 
Sir Alan John Cobham (1894-1973), English aviation pioneer, proprietor of the National Aviation Day Disply ('Cobham's Flying Circus')
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the National Aviation Day Display, National Aviation Displays Ltd. Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, London, W.C.2. Undated but with '1932 - 1933 - 1934 - 1935' across the head.
£35.00

Cobham started his National Aviation Day displays (known as "Cobham's Flying Circus") in 1932. These displays were a combination of barnstorming and joyriding by a team of skilled pilots in up to fourteen aircraft, ranging from single-seaters to modern airliners. The show toured the country, calling at hundreds of sites from regular airfields to fields cleared for the occasion. 1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, worn and ruckled. Nicely printed in black over a halftone red map of Great Britain and Ireland.

[ Col. S. F. Cody, American aviator and showman. ] Black and white postcard photograph captioned, 'Col. S. F. Cody with Indian Chief in his Aeroplane.'

Author: 
[ Colonel S. F. Cody [ Samuel Franklin Cody; Samuel Franklin Cowdery ] (1867-1913), American aviator and showman; Native American 'Indian Chief' ]
Publication details: 
Place, publication details and date not stated [circa 1910?].
£80.00

9 x 14 cm black and white postcard. In frail condition, aged, worn and chipped, with near-vertical central crease repaired on reverse with archival tape. Removed from album, and with traces of newsprint adhering to the reverse. The caption scratched into the plate and appearing in small white capitals at the foot of the image. Shows Cody in near-profile, seated at the controls of a biplane which is pointing to the left of the image, with a Native American in robes and headdress seated to his right. The central part of the plane is shown, with woodland behind it.

[Royal investiture, Buckingham Palace, 1943.] Printed programme of an 'Investiture at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, the 11th of May, 1943, at 11 o'clock a.m.'

Author: 
[King George VI; Royal investiture, Buckingham Palace, 1943.]
Publication details: 
Buckingham Palace [London]. 11 May 1943.
£120.00

7pp., folio. On seven leaves of thick paper, stapled together. In fair condition, aged and worn. Annotated in grey and blue pencil. Ownership inscription at head: 'Mr. Mann'. Divided into subsections, with the main ones being the Distinguished Service Order; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire; The Distinguished Service Cross; The Distinguished Flying Cross. Ten individuals receive the Military Cross, beginning with 'Major Thomas Scrymsoure-Steuart-Fothringham, The Black Watch'.

[Printed prospectus; motor car; aviation] Agenda de L'Automobile et de l'Aviation. Edité par F. Mussche, Directeur de la revue "Electro".

Author: 
[F. Mussche, Directeur de la revue "Electro", 14, rue du Méridien, Bruxelles] [Brussels, Belgium]
Publication details: 
'F. Mussche, éditeur, rue du Méridien, 14, Bruxelles.' [Brussels, Belgium.] 1911.
£56.00

8pp., 12mo. Stapled and unbound, and with last leaf a perforated subscription form. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with rusting to staple.

[Duplicated typescript of humorous poem, marked 'SECRET | Official Use only!'] The Air Ministry Who's Who.

Author: 
[The Air Ministry, Whitehall, London, government department dealing with the Royal Air Force between 1918 and 1964]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [The Air Ministry, Whitehall, London. 1940s?]
£80.00

2pp., 8vo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with small ink stains to two corners and short closed tears at the ends of a central vertical crease line. On paper with 'Ellams 22' watermark. Beneath the title: 'Note: All names guaranteed genuine, from the "London" section of the October telephone directory.' The poem consists of seven four-line verses and six different choruses.

Printed Victorian handbill poem in Yorkshire dialect, titled 'On the Wing. By John Lawton.', speculating in a humorous style on the effects of successful transport by air.

Author: 
John Lawton, Victorian Yorkshire dialect poet [aircraft; air transport; aeroplanes; fixed-wing flying; manned flight; ballooning]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [Yorkshire, 1850s?]
£160.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper, with slight wear and loss at head. The leaf has been trimmed down to 21 x 16 cm., with rounded corners, around the poem's decorative border. The poem consists of 96 lines, in twelve eight-line stanzas; it is arranged in two columns beneath the title: 'ON THE WING. | BY JOHN LAWTON.' First stanza reads: 'I wor thinkin one neet wol sit i mi cheer, | Wot thowts enter sum people's pates; | Wot useful invenshuns they'n plan'd everywheer | To benefit people un states.

[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.

Typed Letter Signed ('Holbrook Jackson') to G. S. Tomkinson of Whitville, Kidderminster.

Author: 
George Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948) [Sir Geoffrey Stewart Tomkinson (1881-1963); Lovat Fraser; Flying Fame; Fleuron; New Age Press; fine printing; bibliography]
Publication details: 
26 February 1925; Regent House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2.
£100.00

8vo: 2 pp. 32 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is willing to help Tomkinson with his book 'Modern Presses', but would not 'have time to be responsible for the writing of any chapters'. Offers to answer 'a questionnaire' regarding 'Flying Fame', and directs Jackson to his 'articles on the work of Lovat Fraser in the "Bookman", the "Fleuron", and "To-day".' Paragraph discusses the 'New Age Press', which 'was not a Press at all, but a publishing business'. In the last paragraph changes his mind, and offers to write a brief chapter.

Handbill poem entitled 'Baron Böhmbig [Bohmbig], or the Rival Jumpers.'

Author: 
[Jonathan Blewitt (1782-1853), English composer] [The Flying Dutchman]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [London, 1850s?]
£75.00

Printed on one side of a piece of wove paper, 32.5 x 24 cm. Text clear and complete, on aged paper with chipping and closed tears to edges. The only copy of this title on COPAC is at the British Library (folio, 4 pp, published by Zenas T. Purday), where it is ascribed to Blewitt and tentatively dated to around 1850. Six eight-line stanzas with chorus 'Jump high, jump low, jumping we go.' Possibly written with satiric intent.

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).'

Autograph Note Signed to "Monsieur le Directeur du Journal Le Siecle" WITH printed letter to Durnoz from "Un habitant du Creuzot"

Author: 
J. Durnof.
Publication details: 
(Durnof) Paris le 21 Octobre 1874 (le Creuzot) 20 Octobre 1874.
£425.00

Pioneer airman / aeronaut. Form googled site: "Mr. Durnof, aeronaut, founder with Nadar and Camille Dartois of the Company of the military francs balloon pilots, and Mrs. Durnof". (Durnof) One page, 4to, referring to a medal he has received and the printed letter whivch accompanies this note, Durnof asks for a few words in "votre estimabe journal".

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!

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