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

EARHART, Amelia.

Item Number: 27008

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

First edition, second printing, published the same year as the first. Octavo, original cloth. Inscribed by the author on the half title page, “To Mr. and Mrs. White with thanks for their kindness Amelia Earhart.”Also included as an autographed letter signed by Amelia Earhart to the same recipient dated 14 March 1929 to Mrs. White, “thanking her for hosting the pilot while in Texas, sending this book, and mentioning that she is still enjoying the fresh gladiolas and sweet peas.”  In very good condition with light rubbing. A warm inscription.

"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).