The Fun of It : Random Records of My Own Flying and of Women in Aviation
New York: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1932. With 31 illustrations. First edition, first printing. Publisher's brown cloth, titled in white, in pictorial dust jacket ($2.50) with phonographic record in publisher's pouch on rear pastedown. 218, [4] pp. 8.25" x 5.5." Minor rubbing to spine text, small abrasion ffep, near fine in spine-sunned, very good minus dust jacket with heavy chipping to edges and 3.5" horizontal closed tear rear panel leading to 2"x1" chip, in mylar cover. Item #235604
SIGNED BY THE QUEEN OF THE SKIES
Famed aviator Amelia Earhart shares her origin story of how she began to fly in this her second book, The Fun of It. She proofed the pages for this book mere days before she went on the trip that would make her the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic. In a postscript cabled and telephoned from across the globe to her publishers, Earhart details her solo transatlantic flight. True to her reputation for humility and women's rights activism, Earhart also devotes a portion of her book to the profiles of her fellow female flyers. Always the champion for equality in aviation, Earhart was the first president of the Ninety Nines, an organization to help support women in aviation and advance their cause named for the number of charter members. It is to this group that Earhart dedicates her book.
This copy boasts Earhart's own signature above a commemorative stamp featuring Amelia Earhart on frontis verso, as well as the scarce dust jacket.
Laid in are two period newspaper clippings. One, from January 7th, 1939, is a picture of the unveiling of the Earhart Monument at the Miami Municipal Airport. The other announces the laying of the corner stone for the Amelia Earhart Lighthouse on Howland Island, near where she went missing. Although it lacks any date information, the laying of the cornerstone took place on November 17th, 1937.
Also included is a phonograph of Earhart's speech in London on May 22nd, 1932, after completing the first woman's solo transatlantic flight a day earlier in Ireland. This record is included in all first editions.
Price: $7,500.00