WRIGHT, Wilbur. [Earl N. Findley].
Wilbur Wright Signed Photograph.
$18,500.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-152798
Rare Original Photograph Signed and Inscribed by Wilbur Wright to Aviation Journalist Earl N. Findley
Rare original sepia-toned photograph of aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright, signed and inscribed by him to aviation journalist Earl N. Findley. The bust portrait by Beau, shows Wright in three-quarter view wearing a cap, and is inscribed by him within the image at the lower edge, “To Earl N. Findley, with my compliments.” The recipient, Earl Nelson Findley was a journalist specializing in aviation who came to know Orville and Wilbur Wright at the time of their first public flights and covered Wilbur’s celebrated flight of October 4, 1909, from Governors Island to Grant’s Tomb and back during New York City’s Hudson-Fulton Celebration. When the Smithsonian Institution long declined to recognize the Wright Flyer as the first heavier-than-air flying machine, in a controversy that spanned decades, Findley was among the few who publicly defended the Wright brothers’ claim. In fine condition. The photograph measures 6.25 inches by 4.25 inches. Triple matted and archivally framed. The entire piece measures 12 inches by 10.25 inches. A remarkable association piece uniting the father of powered flight with one of his most loyal champions.
Wilbur Wright, with his brother Orville, invented, built, and flew the world’s first successful powered airplane, achieving the first controlled, sustained flight of a heavier-than-air craft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. The elder and more reserved of the two brothers, Wilbur was the family’s chief strategist and spokesman, and it was he who astonished the world in 1908 and 1909 with a series of triumphant public flights in France and the United States. He died of typhoid fever in 1912 at the age of forty-five, and autograph material of any kind from him is rare and highly sought after.
Wilbur Wright Signed Photograph.
$18,500.00
In Stock