Willy

Willy — marelibri

Archive: "Days on the Wing" World War I Belgian Flying Ace Manuscript and Notes

1967ref. 4462421967. Hardcover. Very Good. Octavo. Measuring 5½" x 8½". 290pp. Green cloth. The text block separated from the binding for use as a manuscript with notes and changes by the author for a revised version thus good only. A purposely broken copy of Days on the Wing by Baron Coppens de Houthulst also known as Willy Coppens which he used to prepare the manuscript for the 1970 reissue of the book entitled Flying in Flanders. Coppens was one of Belgium’s top flying aces during World War I “credited with 37 confirmed victories and six probables.” Coppens originally wrote Days on the Wing in 1931 as a memoir of his service in World War I. In the late 1960s he reworked the piece and it was eventually reissued as Flying in Flanders in 1970. Coppens used this copy of Days on the Wing to write extensive notes for the new edition. The book also includes typed and photocopied notes and rewrites throughout the manuscript. Notes are featured in the original book with additions word changes and crossed out footnotes among other changes. Notes throughout the manuscript read “replace this paragraph” “no italics” and other notes to clean up the narrative. Also included is a Typed Note Signed by Coppens. Willy Omer François Jean baron Coppens de Houthulst was a Belgian “flying ace" and “balloon buster” during World War I. According to Coppens 40 Belgians including Coppens went to England to learn to fly at their own expense after Germany invaded Belgium in 1914. Coppens flew his first combat mission on May 1 1917 in a “Sopwith 1½ Strutter two seater.” After numerous aerial victories Coppen’s final mission resulted in a crash where his leg was amputated. Following the war Coppen was knighted for his wartime service where he became Willy Omer François Jean baron Coppens de Houthulst. During World War II he worked with resistance movements in Switzerland. An interesting collection of revisions for the memoir of a Belgian flying ace in World War I. hardcover books

Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA · United States$2,500.00≈ €2,229.16

von Braun, Wernher; Fred L Whipple: Willy LeyABAA

Conquest of the Moon

1953ref. 140947434New York: The Viking Press 1953. First Edition. Very Good/Very Good. First edition first printing. Signed by Wernher von Braun on the title page. viii 126 pp. Bound in publisher's green cloth stamped in silver. Very Good with moderate wear and soiling to covers 1-3/4 inch tear to lower edge of contents page. Gift inscription dated 1984 to half-title page. Offsetting from two newspaper clippings taped to facing page likely indicating occasion of book's signing. In a Very Good unclipped dust jacket with moderate edgewear and toning. Dr. Wernher von Braun was a brilliant and visionary German engineer and onetime SS Stormbahnfuerer who led the V-2 ballistic missile program during the Second World War. He convinced his colleagues to surrender themselves and their materials to the Americans after the war ignoring orders to kill themselves rather than fall into enemy hands. The Americans knew a good thing when they saw it and smuggled 118 German scientists one hundred V-2s and tons of related components and documents out of the country. To Stalin's fury the Soviets were left only with lower-level rocket scientists to press into service hindering their performance in the Space Race years later. Once in the United States von Braun spent fifteen years working for the United States Army on ballistic weapons but his true passion was space travel. He once told a group of British journalists: "The V-2 was a fine rocket. The only thing wrong with it was that it landed on the wrong planet." Frustrated with being sidelined von Braun convinced Collier's associate editor Cornelius Ryan whom he met at a symposium on space medicine in San Antonio to run a series on space travel. The magazine series provided the material for The Conquest of the Moon published in 1953 by Viking. Neil Armstrong read the book when he returned from his tour of duty in Korea and it influenced his decision to become an astronaut. Von Braun's work co-written with popular science writers and beautifully illustrated by Chesley Bonestell inspired the U.S. government as well. In 1960 President Eisenhower transferred von Braun's rocket development group from the Army to the newly established National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA separating space science from military science for the first time. Von Braun became the director of the Marshall Space Flight Center and was in charge of developing the Saturn space boosters used as the launch vehicles for the Apollo Moon program. His work was essential in the competition with the Soviet Union and the former Nazi was lauded as a national hero. The Viking Press unknown books

Burnside Rare Books, ABAA · United States$4,800.00≈ €4,279.98

von Braun, Wernher; Willy Ley; Chesley Bonestell [Illustrator]ABAA

The Exploration of Mars

1956ref. 140947438New York: The Viking Press 1956. First Edition. Near Fine/Good. First edition first printing. Signed by Wernher von Braun on the half-title page and inscribed to a young recipient: "Your Uncle Stu has told me of your interest in rockets and satellites. Good luck. Christmas 1958." x 176 pp. Bound in publisher's green cloth titled in silver on the spine blindstamped rocket design to front board. Near Fine with light soiling to covers rubbing to corners and softening to head and tail of spine. Contents lightly toned. In a Good unclipped dust jacket with moderate edgewear creasing and horizontal tears to fold lines and spine and chipping at fold ends and head and tail of spine. Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun a Prussian aristocrat and SS Stormbahnfuerer who was spirited to the United States after the Second World War was one of the most important rocket developers of the 20th century. His passion had always been space exploration but during the 1940s he was charged with the development of the ballistic missiles that terrorized London during the final months of the war. After surrendering to the Americans in 1945 in order to safeguard his legacy and scientific work and himself von Braun was frustrated to spend the next few years cooling his heels with fellow German scientists in Texas and Alabama. He told one of his colleagues: "We can dream about rockets and the Moon until Hell freezes over. Unless the people understand it and the man who pays the bill is behind it no dice." Von Braun wrote the book The Mars Project in order to spark public enthusiasm for his project. Eighteen publishers turned it down but von Braun had a stroke of luck when he met Cornelius Ryan associate editor of Collier's magazine at a symposium on space medicine in San Antonio. Ryan was impressed with the German engineer's vision and the magazine published eight influential features on space travel over the next two years starting March 1952 in which von Braun essentially outlined the future of NASA. Those features were expanded into the book The Conquest of the Moon in 1953 and by the time Viking published The Exploration of Mars in 1956 von Braun had become a national figure appearing on a "Tomorrowland" feature on Disney's popular television show watched by tens of millions of people. The book was co-written with his Collier's collaborators Willy Ley who had fled Nazi Germany in 1935 to become a science fiction and popular science writer in the United States and the astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell. The Christmas 1958 inscription to little Jimmy was written at the end of a momentous year for von Braun: on January 31 after years of development the satellite Explorer I was successfully launched into orbit. Americans were thrilled and The American Weekly ran von Braun's autobiography in three installments. The story was turned into the 1960 biopic I Aim at the Stars which inspired Kennedy speechwriter Mort Sahl to quip that Wernher von Braun had aimed for the stars but sometimes hit London. The Viking Press unknown books

Burnside Rare Books, ABAA · United States$4,800.00≈ €4,279.98

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