Description
The signed first edition of Skyward by Admiral Richard Byrd, an exceptional copy.
Octavo, xvi, 359pp, [1]. Blue cloth, title stamped in gilt on spine and front cover. Stated “first printing” on the copyright page. Complete with photogravure frontispiece portrait (found only in the first printing) and 47 full-page plates. Maps on endpapers, blue top stain. Includes the publisher’s first state dust jacket, no price listed, bright illustrations, a short closed tear along top edge of front panel, an exceptional example. Includes a plain wax paper jacket cover, believed to be original to this edition. Housed in custom blue leather clamshell and chemise.
(Spence, 224)
Signed on a blank leaf following the dedication page.
Skyward is the first book by polar explorer Richard Byrd, where he details his 1928-1930 expedition to Antarctica, his flights to the North Pole, and his flights across the Atlantic Ocean. For his endeavors, Admiral Byrd was honored by then Governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, with a ticker-tape parade in 1930.
