flight

The legendary Broadway singer and comedienne, Fanny Brice, is featured on the cover of this 1915 song, written by Tin Pan Alley songwriter Harry von Tilzer.  An aircraft at night with Ms. Brice under its spotlight is a fine example of imagination and show business hustle.  It is part of the Bella C. Landauer Collection of Aeronautical Sheet Music from the National Air and Space Museum Library.

The theme of this march and two-step celebration of speed and transportation on the ground, water, and air.  Dating from 1910, Motor King is part of the Bella C. Landauer Collection of Aeronautical Sheet Music, held in the National Air and Space Museum Library. 

The Dill Pickles is a 1906 piece of ragtime music that was illustrative of the public view of airships as giant pickles/cucumbers or sausages.  This sheet music is a fine example of the humor and charm of the Bella C. Landauer Collection of Aeronautcial Sheet Music, held in the National Air and Space Museum Library. 

One of the finer examples of illustrative fantasy reminiscent of a Jules Verne story, this sheet music march from 1907 is in excellent condition.  It is from the Bella C. Landauer Collection of Aeronautical Sheet Music in the National Air and Space Museum Library.  

A popular song from 1919 that was representative of women's interest in aviation and flying. Since Katy the Waitress became an Aviatress is an example of popular songwriting's ability to capture contemporary trends and turn them into songs they hoped the public would adopt.  This sheet music is part of the Bella C. Landauer Collection of Aeronautical Sheet Music held in the National Air and Space Museum Library.

Volume II of this two volume chronicle tells the story of the American volunteer pilots who served in the French Army’s Lafayette Escadrille (or squadron) during the First World War. The volumes include pilot biographies, photos, and several illustrations. It was written by Escadrille volunteer pilots James Norman Hall and Charles Bernard Nordhoff. The two men formed a successful writing partnership after the war that included works such as the well-known novel Mutiny on the Bounty, published in 1932.

Volume I of this two volume chronicle tells the story of the American volunteer pilots who served in the French Army’s Lafayette Escadrille (or squadron) during the First World War. The volumes include pilot biographies, photos, and several illustrations. It was written by Escadrille volunteer pilots James Norman Hall and Charles Bernard Nordhoff. The two men formed a successful writing partnership after the war that included works such as the well-known novel Mutiny on the Bounty, published in 1932.

The catalog record for these two oversize British editions, published in the 1930s by an oil company, doesn’t do justice to the plentiful color illustrations of aircraft, engines, and their interior structure. The illustrations include several flip-up sections that reveal the aircraft “insides” and would be appreciated by audiences of any age who want to view this almost 90 year old “modern” technology.

Jerrie Mock was the first woman to fly solo in her own aircraft around the globe in 1964. Her story of that feat and her life as a pilot are part of her book. This copy includes her inscription and a child’s own note in the front pages. Jerrie Mock’s aircraft that she used to fly around the world and her personal papers are in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

This second volume of a German publication of aircraft cigarette cards album has most of the aircraft cards in place, as well as a detachable paper airplane model ready for assembly. Published in 1932, it covers a range of international aircraft then in service. 

First published in 1863, this 1869 English translation edition of the Jules Verne balloon adventure is in good overall condition, including the illustrations. This copy was once owned by famed collector and ephemera expert, Bella C. Landauer. Mrs. Landauer's collection of aeronautical sheet music is a gem held by the National Air and Space Museum's Library. Her bookplate, noting her simply as "BCL," is on the inside front cover.

This 1909 publication is a photograph collection of aerial views of the city of Paris and other notable nearby sites, like Versailles. The photographers, A. Schelcher and A. Omer-Decugis, produced about thirty pictures using an oblique point of view and provide a different visual of monuments like the Eiffel Tower in a perpendicular photograph. These photos show the streets and boulevards of Paris captured at a time when aerial photography was in an experimental stage and the results helped alter human perceptions of the world.

Published in Great Britain in 1936 for young readers, this amply illustrated book covers the latest in aircraft in the British Empire between the world war periods. There are chapters on different aircraft types and their functions, with an emphasis on aviation as an advance in civilization and progress. Principal air routes across the world and the British Imperial Airways routes are featured. The color plates make it an especially attractive book for the time period.

One of the Golden Busy People Book series published in 1968 for children, this volume shows what an astronaut experiences in training, testing, and the launch and recovery process. As expected with this type of book, it has been well-used and needs some preservation care. Unlike most Golden Book publications, this book measures 16 inches tall and 6½ inches wide. 

This 1967 commemorative newspaper issue documented the 40th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis monoplane. It features photos of a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis and of pilot Frank Tallman, cofounder of Tallmantz Aviation, which built the replica. The replica was flown to Paris by the U.S. Air Force to be displayed during the 1967 Paris Air Show.

This is an anniversary compendium of Ryan Airplanes (1925-1975), the company that built the Spirit of St. Louis—the airplane Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic—as well as many other commercial and military aircraft. The book details the many aircraft Ryan produced, and includes photos, advertisements, promotional brochures, and even a comic strip. It is an informative overview of an aircraft manufacturer that made a substantial contribution to aviation history and technology.

Published in 1946, this adventure story is set in Peru in 1938. It is the tale of a father and his two sons’ pursuit of an Incan treasure known as the "golden condor." This copy has a bookplate identifying the book as a gift from the publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, to the Aeronautical Archives. It is representative of the many works of popular aviation adventure stories in the National Air and Space Museum library collection that document how motorized flight captured young people's imaginations.

What is an aircraft book doing at the national postal museum library? Airplanes have also carried the mail—and continue to do so. The golden age of private aircraft spanned the end of World War I to the start of World War II. During these years of temporary calm, aircraft engineers made significant technological advances, producing safer, stronger, and faster aircraft. Many of these innovations appeared in aircraft made for the private market.

Number 68 of just 200 copies, this whimsical semi-autobiography of expert naturalist and taxidermist Oliver Davie is interspersed with encyclopedia-esque entries minutely describing species particular to the author’s career. The pebbled, green cover is embossed in black and gold, and the book is printed on thick, embossed paper with visible chain lines. Lithographs, photos, and illustrations dot its text, including a photograph of the author at work.

Black Stars in Orbit is an overview of the first African Americans who were selected to be astronaut candidates, the first who worked for NASA on new technologies for mission projects, and the first to travel to space as part of the NASA Space Shuttle program. This volume is beatifully illustrated and contains brief biographical overviews.

A detailed and riveting history of early African Americans and aviation written by one of the Tuskegee pilots who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. This book details the stories of those first aviation pioneers and their contributions that aided in the founding of the Tuskegee program and its success. It is unsparing in detailing the realities and risks they faced to achieve their goals.

This copy of a 1784 tribute to the Montgolfier Brothers was owned by the author, Comte d'Imbert de La Platière. A tipped-in engraved portrait of the author appears at the end of the book. Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier invented the globe aérostatique, a hot air balloon made of fabric and paper, and tested its flight through summer and autumn 1783 in France. The first manned, untethered flight took place in a Montgolfier balloon piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes on November 21, 1783 in Paris.

First published in 1942, Beryl Markham's "West with the Night," account of her expatriate life in Africa as a well-born English woman, horse trainer, and bush pilot was well received by critics, including Ernest Hemingway. She was the first woman to fly from Europe to North America solo in 1936. Her original book was re-published in the 1980s and was acclaimed by new readers who made it a best seller. This particular edition was published in 1989 and contains photographs and illustrations not in the original work.    

This is a comprehensive work on numerous types of birds, many not normally considered pets or cage-birds. Some also consider it a classic work on canaries. Each author contributed chapters in one of three sections: Blakston wrote about canaries; Swaysland, in his role as an “authority” on the subject, contributed the section on British cage-birds; and Wiener wrote the section on foreign birds. Blakston’s chapters on canaries include more detailed information on breeding, hatching and rearing, exhibiting, and diseases than the other two authors’ sections.

This is book 2, the second of two volumes containing collections of cigarette cards that are souvenirs of the zeppelin age. Cigarette cards were used by cigarette companies to stiffen cigarette packaging and to advertise their brand. Due to their unique design and limited printing, they often became collectibles. This collection includes cards featuring pictures of zeppelins and images taken while the photographer was in a zeppelin. Notable photographs include the Italian Alps and Mediterranean Sea.