WINGS FOR LIFE: Foreword by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, U.S.N.
Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1957. First Edition. Hardcover. Presentation copy, inscribed by Ruth Nichols to Salt Lake City bookseller Sam Weller on the front flyleaf, with a typed letter signed (TLS) from Weller to Nichols describing a flight they took to Reno laid in. Memoirs of the pioneering aviatrix who remains the only woman to hold simultaneous world records for speed, altitude, and distance. A graduate of Wellesley College, Ruth Rowland Nichols (1901-60) first achieved public fame in January 1928 as co-pilot for Harry Rogers, who had been her flying instructor, on the first non-stop flight from New York to Miami. In 1929, she was a founding member, with Amelia Earhart and others, of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of licensed women pilots, and a year later, she shattered Charles Lindbergh's record time for a cross-country flight, completing the trip in 13 hours, 21 minutes. Later, she organized Relief Wings, a civilian air service that performed emergency relief flights and assisted the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. Edited by Dorothy Roe Lewis. Octavo: [2], 317, [1, blank] pp. with a frontispiece and 18 photographic illustrations. Original paper-covered boards over a blue cloth spine with gilt-stamped titling and borders. A few faint spots to the top edge. The dust jacket is moderately edgeworn, with a triangular chip to the front panel and some light staining to the spine heel; otherwise very good. Very good / Very good. Item #80050
Price: $650.00