2 volumes. Color lithograph frontispieces in both volumes, nearly 400 illustrations from photographs throughout. (8vo) original blue cloth, stamped in gilt, plain paper jackets with printed spines, original publisher's slipcase with printed label. First Edition.
Inscribed card from authors James N. Hall and Charles Bernard Nordhoff on a card affixed to the front free endpaper of Volume I, “For Doctor Gros, with warm regards, James N. Hall, Chas. Nordhoff, Tahiti, Oct. 14, 1927.” Additionally signed by five surviving members of the Corps who signed on their respective biographical pages: Henry Batchelor (page 113), Edward Hinkle (page 267), Charles Kinsolving (page 301), William Wellman (movie director, page 483), and Herman Whitmore (page 487).
Dr. Gros was an American doctor in Paris who was instrumental in organizing the Lafayette Escadrille, and is pictured on page 70 of Volume I. Young men from neutral America during World War I were recruited to come to France and fly in the Escadrille in combat against the Germans. When America entered the war, the Lafayette Escadrille became the Lafayette Flying Corps.
A cornerstone of any serious aviation collection. Especially desirable with the signatures of Hall, Nordhoff, and Flying Corps members.