5 - [AERONAUTICS]. BONNET-LABRANCHE, Albert (ed.). L'aviation illustrée. A collection of 55 issues, including the entire year of 1909.

[AERONAUTICS]. BONNET-LABRANCHE, Albert (ed.). L'aviation illustrée. A collection of 55 issues, including the entire year of 1909. A single-volume collection of 55 issues from the first two years (1909/1910) of this pioneering and iconic bimonthly magazine from aviation’s “crazy year,” founded and edited by aviation press pioneer Albert Bonnet-Labranche. Paris, Management and Administration, 1909–1910. Folio size, red half-basane leather with blind-stamped edging, spine with five raised bands with blind-stamped borders, title and date in gold lettering. Unpaginated, with numerous black-and-white reproductions in the text, printed in three columns. Binding rubbed, some scuffs on the leather, spine faded. Small tear at the margin of issue No. 17, stains on issue No. 50. A collection of 55 issues from the first two years (1909/1910) of this pioneering and iconic bimonthly magazine from aviation’s “crazy year,” founded and edited by aviation press pioneer Albert Bonnet-Labranche. Published at a time when Blériot was crossing the English Channel and major air shows were being held in Reims and Brescia, it chronicles, week by week, the exploits of the early aviators (Blériot, Santos-Dumont, Latham, Farman, Wright), the technical innovations in aircraft, and the first air shows, illustrated with numerous diagrams and photographic reproductions. This volume includes the 37 issues from 1909 and 18 issues published in 1910 (issues 38 through 53, then issues 56 and 60). A fine copy, attractively bound.