Description:

Lindbergh Charles


Charles Lindbergh, Advance Copy 1st Ed. Spirit of St. Louis, Signed and Dedicated to St. Louis Backer's Daughter!

 

On May 20-21, 1927, record-breaking aviator Charles A. Lindbergh (1902-1974) made a solo non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in his plane "The Spirit of St. Louis." "Lucky Lindy" traveled over 3,600 miles during the 33.5-hour-long journey, braving fog, ice, boredom, and fatigue.

 

Advance copy 1st edition hardcover copy of Charles A. Lindbergh's The Spirit of St. Louis (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1953), signed by him as "Charles A. Lindbergh" and with 10+ words inscribed in his hand: "To Hebe Bixby Hennessy / With best wishes from / Charles A. Lindbergh / August, 1953 / Publication date is Sept. 14th" on the title page.

 

Dark blue boards with a silver embossed spine and a stylized monoplane design on the front cover. With Burnell Poole's 1931 "Epic of the Air" endpapers, but missing the original George W. Thompson designed paper dust jacket. The back hinge is slightly loosened, and the spine exhibits minor sun fading. Expected wear to corners and edges, else in very good to near fine condition. Measures 8vo or 5.75" x 8.5" x 1.5".

 

As Lindbergh explains in the preface, he wrote The Spirit of St. Louis at intervals between 1938-1952. The 562pp book is divided into two parts: "The Craft" and "New York to Paris." The volume also includes a lengthy appendix section, which reproduces primary sources like Lindbergh's flight log and period newspaper articles. Also featuring 20 illustrations and a helpful glossary of aviation terminology.

 

Lindbergh had previously published two book-length accounts of his flight, We (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1927) and Of Flight and Life (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1948). In exchange for publication rights to his latest autobiography, Charles Scribner's Sons granted Lindbergh a 15% royalty fee and paid him $25,000 in advance. The Spirit of St. Louis was a bestseller and even won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954. Lindbergh's widow renewed the copyright to The Spirit of St. Louis in 1981, and the book has gone through numerous reprintings. Warner Brothers Studios purchased its film rights in 1957, with Jimmy Stewart playing Lindbergh.

 

Lindbergh dedicated this advance copy to Hebe Bixby Hennessy (1927-1973), the youngest daughter of Harold M. Bixby (1890-1965), one of the St. Louis Backers that financed Lindbergh's ambitious aviation scheme in 1927. As Lindbergh describes him in the Spirit of St. Louis: "Bixby is one of the men who run the great city of St. Louis, yet he looks on flyers as something more than acrobats and daredevils…he too believes that aviation has a future" (22). Bixby's name is mentioned in the Acknowledgements section of the book, and also appears under the heading "Members of the Spirit of St. Louis Organization."

 

Hebe Bixby Hennessy Schafer was an alumna of Barnard College who married Roger Schafer in 1958.

 



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