FLIGHT

[James Glaisher, aeronaut and meteorologist.] Two Unsigned Autograph Drafts: the first of Letter to ‘Mrs Wallis’ on ‘English legislation against Sunday trading’; the second with reference to the Fabian Society.

Author: 
James Glaisher (1809-1903), English aeronaut and meteorologist who made balloon ascents with Henry Tracey Coxwell (1819-1900) [Sunday trading; Fabian Society]
Publication details: 
Draft of letter to 'Mrs Wallis': 18 May 1900. 50 Great Russell Street, W.C. [London offices of the Photographic Society of Great Britain.] Other draft [Fabian Society] without date or place.
£80.00

See Glaisher’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The story of Glaisher’s balloon flights is travestied in the 2019 film ‘The Aeronaut’, with his co-pilot Henry Tracey Coxwell being replaced by the fictional female character ‘Amelia Wren’. The object of the ascents, made on behalf of the British Association between 1862 and 1866, was to carry out scientific observations in such matters as the variation in temperature and humidity of the atmosphere at high elevations.

[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'.

[Ballooning and Victorian Music Hall.] Anonymous Manuscript of the lyrics of two comic songs: 'Balooning [sic]' (inspired by a piece in Charles Dickens's 'Household Words') and Harry Sydney's 'It's just as well to take it in a quiet sort of way'.

Author: 
[Ballooning and Victorian Music Hall; Harry Sydney, music hall artiste and songwriter; Charles Dickens and 'Household Words']
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [London? Circa 1865.]
£400.00

3pp., foolscap 8vo. On a bifolium of laid paper. In fair condition, aged and worn. The first poem, 'Balooning [sic]', covers both sides of the first leaf. No evidence has been discovered that this poem was ever published, but it is inspired by the exploits of 'Mr. Green' in a humorous essay titled 'Ballooning', which appeared in Charles Dickens's 'Household Words' on 25 October 1851. The choice of two phrases ('pipes & backy' and 'Mounted Meershaums') is given in the present manuscript, these variants perhaps suggesting that this item is authorial rather than a transcription.

[Archive; flying; Atlantic Survey] Second Atlantic Survey Flight 1937 ("Cambria")

Author: 
[Air Superintendent's Master Copy]
Publication details: 
1937
£950.00

A collection of typescripts (carbons or mimeographs) and maps recording the details of the Second Atlantic Survey Flight by the "Cambria" in 1937, in binder, with punch-holes, all in good condition. ITEM 1. Mimeograph [?] 11pp., sm. fol. "Cambria" G-ADUV | Second Atlantic Survey Flight 1937 | FLIGHT LOG" inc. list of crew (G.J. Powell, Commander); ITEM 2. Typescript, 4pp., sm. fol. "Extracts of Log - Field Strengths - Observations at Bridge 6 [...]"; ITEM 3. Typescript, 5pp., sm. fol., as ITEM 2 but later; ITEM 4. Typescript, 3pp., sm. fol. As 2 & 3 but a few days later; ITEM 5.

[ 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.

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.

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'.

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.

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".

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