The Conquest of the Atlantic by Air.

London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Very Good/No DJ. 1931. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo Original cloth boards with bright black titling, slight loss of colour and lightly rubbed to edges. Previous owner's inscription on ffep. A few light foxing spots. ix, 246pp. 34 plates. Clean and tight. THIS book is a history of the important and adventurous attempts to fly the North Atlantic Ocean since the conquest began in 1910. It is written now, not because I believe that the conquest is finished, but because I believe that we have seen nearly the last of the purely sporting attempts for personal glory, and that henceforth the flights will cease to be an adventure in the extreme sense. They will be safe routine flights, just as they should be. They will only be organised because it happens that suitable seaworthy craft are built and the ocean provides an excellent testing ground for the purpose of collecting data relative to the future airways. The intrepid pilot who sets out after 1930 in a single-engine landplane to cover the 2,000 miles of ocean will probably have no serious consideration from experts or the public. Those famous airmen who ventured solo in the last few years, whose adventures are narrated in this book, had certain justification, as will be made clear. They may not be considered the servants of science by many experts, but of their courage there was no doubt, and their flights at least had the appeal of novelty. Therefore, we put them in this book which I venture to define as a history of the pioneering flights across the famous ocean. .