PEYREY, François.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Les Premiers Hommes-Oiseaux; First edition, together with the expanded edition published one year later. Peyrey wrote this work to convince Europeans of the Wright brothers' achievements, commonly disbelieved due to the lack of reporters at their first flight. It contains many engineering diagrams, explanations, and photographic illustrations. The expanded edition also includes a list of flights made by Wilbur Wright near Le Mans in 1908.François Peyrey was a young aviation journalist who secured the first interview Wilbur Wright attended in France. At first he, like many, was sceptical of Wright's success. However, over the course of the interview Peyrey became convinced that the problem of flight had been solved. He wrote, "I felt my doubts fly away one by one in the blue smoke. Through curls of smoke I examined Wilbur Wright, his thin, serious face, lit by the strangely gentle, intelligent and radiant eyes... I had to admit: no, this man is not a bluffer" (McCullough, p. 161). After this experience and Wilbur Wright's successful demonstration flights at Le Mans, Peyrey wrote a number of books explaining and promoting the new technology, including the present works and Les Oiseaux Artificiels (1909).

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.