^Lot 2 Orville and Wilbur Wright

Group lot: nine vintage silver gelatin prints, ranging in size from 3.5 x 5 to 4.75 x 6.75, featuring two portraits of Wilbur in a suit and hat and two of him engaged in activity with the plane; a moment captured as Wilbur, Mr. Tissandier, a student of the Wrights’, and two additional men pour over paperwork with the plane in the background; an aerial shot of the plane, as its left side sticks out of the barn in which it what housed, and a shot of the plane from the side as it is being pushed by three men; and two shots of the legendary plane in flight; 25 vintage 5.5 x 3.5 French postcards featuring portraits of the Orville brothers, scenes from their epic flight, composite scenes honoring their achievements, and the pioneering aircraft that took them to the air; a paperback copy, in French, of Les Premiers Hommes-Oiseaux, Wilbur et Orville Wright, 6.25 x 9.5, featuring 78 pages of the brothers’ prolific story, interspersed with pictures and diagrams; and a paperback copy, in French, of Les Freres Wright & Leur Oeuvre, 7 x 10.5, featuring 56 pages dedicated to the groundbreaking flight, highlighted with images, drawings, and diagrams. In very good condition, with scattered mild to moderate creasing, toning, and soiling, and silvering to the darker areas of some of the photos.

M. Paul Tissandier was a French student pilot who learned to fly with Wilbur Wright at Pont-Long near Pau, France in the spring of 1909. These nine remarkable silver gelatin prints were taken at Hunaudieres (used as a horse race course) Le Mans and at Camp d’Auvours in 1908, and include candid shots of Wilbur and fantastic images of the plane in flight. The accompanying ephemera collected by Tissandier—including unusual postcards caricaturing Wilbur and his airplane—make this an exceptional collection. A unique assortment of one-of-a-kind photographs and rare Wright brothers’ memorabilia.