The Aeroplane by Grahame-White. Claude and Harper. Harry,

Hard back book with brown pictorial cloth covers, 279 pages, 19 chapters illustrated with B/W plates and drawings.

The authors aim was “to tell a complete story of the aerial conquest, beginning from crude experiments, made hundreds of years ago; passing thence to the first serious experimenters, with their difficulties and triumphs; and so carrying on the tale to present-day achievements and the latest-type machines.”

They also dwell upon…" the personality of the men who-braving ridicule and scorn and surmounting obstacles without number-laid the foundation-stones of flight. Instead of being a compilation of dates, with certain explanatory matter added, our book endeavours to make these men live to show what induced them to embark upon their seemingly hopeless quest; to tell of their dreams and longings, and how they built their first frail craft; to trace them to their boyhood and their play with kites; to reveal them, in a word, as living beings, and not merely as names.."