Description
Inscribed to aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky, first edition of America’s First Crusade by former President Herbert Hoover, in publisher’s first edition dust jacket.
Octavo, viii, 81pp. Light gray cloth, title printed in blue on spine and front cover. First edition with Scribner’s “A” on copyright page. Faint toning to spine, some foxing to frontispiece. In the publisher’s near fine dust jacket with $1.25 retail price on front flap, light wear at top edge of spine, bright illustrations and vibrant blue coloring. (Tracey, 7) Signed by President Herbert Hoover on the front free endpaper: “To Mr. and Mrs. Igor I. Sikorsky, With the Kind Regards of Herbert Hoover.” A superb association copy. Provenance: From the estate of Susana and Nickolai Sikorsky, the son and daughter-in-law of Igor Sikorsky. Estate sale in West Hartford, CT, May 2021.
Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer, best known for the development of the first viable helicopter. Early in his career in Russia, Sikorsky was successful in designing fixed-wing aircraft. Moving to the United States in 1919, he eventually founded the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. In the 1930s, the Sikorsky Corporation developed the first flying boats for Pan American Airways to allow for ocean-crossing flights. His most notable achievement came in 1939 with the development of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, the first viable helicopter.
