20 Hrs. 40 Min. Our Flight in the Friendship: The American Girl, First Across the Atlantic by Air, Tells Her Story.

EARHART, Amelia.

Item Number: 142303

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1928.

First edition of Earhart’s thrilling account of of her experience as a passenger aboard the Friendship, which made her the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air in 1928. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth, pictorial endpapers, frontispiece and 61 illustrations. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the verso of the frontispiece, “To J.P. Muller, First National Vice President – Exchange Club in appreciation of his interest in aviation from Amelia Earhart.” In July, 1928, Earhart was the special guest at the 12th National Exchange Club Convention, held in Toledo, Ohio, where she likely first met the Club’s Vice-President, J.P. Muller, for whom this book was later presented. Muller went on to serve as President of the Club from 1929-30. Four years later, in May, 1932, Earhart would become the first woman to fly non-stop across the Atlantic. The National Exchange Club, a service organization, was a key supporter of aviation in the 1920s, and helped fund numerous endeavors related to military and commercial aviation. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the extremities. Housed in a custom slipcase.

"In April 1928 Earhart received the telephone call that would change her life: an offer to become the first woman to fly the Atlantic. Earhart's impeccable character and physical resemblance to Charles A. Lindbergh made her an easy choice for the promoters, aviator Richard Byrd, publisher George Putnam, and socialite Amy Phipps Guest, who had originally intended to make the flight. On the morning of 3 July 1928 Earhart departed from Boston Harbor in a trimotor Fokker with pilots Wilmer 'Bill' Stultz and Louis 'Slim' Gordon. Earhart agreed to go as a passenger, though 'the idea of going as just 'extra weight' did not appeal to me at all.' Following the departure from Trepassy, Newfoundland, at 11:40 a.m. on 17 June, the Friendship encountered miserable weather, and Earhart never touched the controls during the 20-hour, 40-minute flight. Stultz landed the Fokker on the water at Burry Port, Wales, and Earhart became an immediate sensation. Earhart was astounded by the reception she received. She was feted in London and New York and was given a ticker-tape parade down Broadway with her nearly forgotten fellow pilots. On the postflight tour around the country… Earhart sensed her opportunity to promote her passions of aviation, feminism, and pacifism… Earhart became an accomplished speaker, writer, and columnist for Cosmopolitan. She joined Lindbergh in promoting a new air mail service, Transcontinental Air Transport, and she purchased a Lockheed Vega, which she flew in the first women's cross-country air derby in 1929" (ANB).