This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/21/2024
[AVIATION]. TODD, Doris Dower. Letterbook of an English Governess at Pau - the Center of Aviation, 1911-12. Pau, 16 September 1911 - 16 July 1912. Manuscript letterbook containing primary source, contemporary, information on notable early aviators and fascinating descriptions by a first-time observer of the new air travel inventions, written at Pau, France, the city where the Wright Brothers had established the first flying school in history just one year earlier, and where the aerospace industry was beginning to flourish, by Doris Dowser Todd, English Governess to Dr. Louis Goudard, a founder of the Société Médicale de Pau et du Béarn. In this volume, Miss Todd has transcribed her own letters, written to family, while in Pau, France. Towards the end of the volume she writes to a man of romantic interest. 8vo. 152 pages in manuscript. Burgundy cloth boards, initials and border blindstamped to front, ruled leaves with the globe motif watermark of Midland Educational Company Birmingham. Inserted within the volume: one contemporary theater program, one draft letter, one personalia document dating to the Great War. Wear to boards, book block split at hinge, otherwise internally in very good condition, a delightful account in a neat hand, by an inquisitive and enthusiastic young lady. Primary source manuscript account featuring pioneer aviators: Blériot, Védrines, LeBlanc, Bellenger, Wright Brothers, and more. The writer’s arrival at Pau being only 2 years after the Wright brothers, and only 1 year after their founding of the world’s first aviation school, makes her primary source account exceedingly scarce, being contemporary to the formation of flight training and some deadly experimentations which claimed the lives of gallant young pilots. Under the influence of the Wright brothers, Pau, the capital city of Béarn, became one of the world’s most active hubs of the burgeoning aerospace industry, beginning in January 1909 when the Wright family arrived. There, the first flight on the “Flyer” took place on 3rd February 1909, a date which also marks the first flight of an aeroplane in the Béarn. Full description available upon request.