L'ASTRONAUTIQUE. Paris: Imprimerie A. Lahure, 1930. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [1] 2 [3] 4 [5-6] 6a-6b: blank/errata] [7] 8 [9] 10-248 [249-250: blank] [note: first and last leaves are blanks], 9 large folded plates, original orange wrappers printed in black, edges untrimmed. First edition, second ("thin paper") issue. A copy of the "thin paper" or "trade" issue, preceded by the "author's" issue which is printed on wood pulp paper. "Esnault-Pelterie's greatest contribution ... [It] covered virtually all that was then known of rocketry and space flight" (Von Braun and Ordway). Generally considered to be one of the four most important early works published on the subject, along with the early writings of Oberth, Hohmann and Goddard. Ciancone 66. Humphries, Rockets and Guided Missiles 5 and 6. Interlibrum 270 #115, 116, and 117. Ley, Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel, revised edition, 1957, pp. 162, 505. Von Braun and Ordway, History of Rocketry and Space Travel, p. 75. A fine copy. Many of these books, as well as the author's research, were deliberately destroyed when the Germans marched into Paris in 1940. (#166666).
Price: $1,000.00
No statement of printing.