Click for full-size.
Memories of Land and Sky. With Twenty-Four Illustrations.
by Bacon, Gertrude
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Moray, United Kingdom
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1928. Octavo. Original blue cloth, titles to spine gilt and to upper board in blind. 8-page publisher's ads at rear. Portrait frontispiece and 15 plates from black and white photographs. Spine cocked, cloth a little rubbed at the extremities, two shallow dents in the upper board, lower corner bumped, some spotting to the contents, particularly the early leaves, and edges of the text block. Very good condition. First edition of the memoirs of the first Englishwoman to fly. Inscribed by the author, using her married name, on the title page, "(Gertrude Foggitt) Sept. 1936". Gertrude Bacon (1874-1949) was the daughter of the scientist and balloonist Rev. John Maczenzie Bacon, and she accompanied him on most of his expeditions. "Bacon became fascinated by flying and as a journalist reported on the various airships and planes being built." In August 1904 she became the first woman to fly in an airship, being a passenger in the near-disastrous first flight of an 84-foot-long ship designed by Stanley Spencer. "From 22 to 29 August, 1909, the world's first aviation meeting was held at Rheims, France. Bacon was determined to go for a ride in one of the new machines. On the last day she was taken up in a Farman plane, squeezed between the radiator and the pilot. She described the takeoff: 'The motion was wonderfully smooth - smoother yet - and then - ! Suddenly there had come into it a new indescribable quality - a lift - a lightness - a life!' Thus she became the first Englishwoman to fly" (International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary, p. 15). Bacon flew on several other occasions, and became the first ever hydroplane passenger at Lake Windermere in 1912. Bacon became Gertrude Foggitt in 1929, when she married fellow botanist and chemist Thomas Jackson Foggitt.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- Alembic Rare Books
(GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 798
- Title
- Memories of Land and Sky. With Twenty-Four Illustrations.
- Author
- Bacon, Gertrude
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Methuen & Co. Ltd.
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1928
- Keywords
- Popular Science|Women in Science|Women's History|Technology|Transport|Aviation
Terms of Sale
Alembic Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Alembic Rare Books
Biblio member since 2018
Moray
About Alembic Rare Books
We specialise in rare science books dating from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century, including first editions, signed copies, manuscripts, objects, and ephemera. We have particular expertise in natural history, genetics and evolution, anatomy, nuclear physics and the Manhattan Project, early computing, and women in science. We also carry books related to women's history and literature.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Cocked
- Refers to a state where the spine of a book is lightly "twisted" in such a way that the front and rear boards of a book do not...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Inscribed
- When a book is described as being inscribed, it indicates that a short note written by the author or a previous owner has been...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
Frequently asked questions
This Book’s Categories
RIP (Please) George Romero: Modern Master of Zombie Horror
George Romero co-wrote and directed Night of the Living Dead in 1968, a film that inspired the modern zombie craze and made an indelible mark on American cinema. Come this way, horror fan...
Storing books - laying down or standing up?
Don’t unwittingly damage your growing book collection! Learn about when to store books laying down vs standing up. Read About Safe Book Storage
