As acting executor of Orville Wright's estate, Harold S. Miller stamped each loose magazine, pamphlet, and bulletin within Orville's library and personally signed each as a certification of the item as being personally owned by Orville. Occasionally, some of these items are offered for sale to collectors by auction or on E-bay. This post provides sales data on estate items that have sold in recent years, and lists various magazine issues, pamphlets, and bulletins within the Wright State University Wright Brother Archives, and the Author's personal collection. Additionally, aspects of interest are discussed concerning these collectables.
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| Stamp utilized by Harold S. Miller to identify magazines, pamphlets, and bulletins within Orville Wright's personal library. (1) |
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Magazine Issues Sold to Collectors
November 17 of 1999, Christie's sold a group of 37 volumes "stamped from the private library of Orville Wright with the signature of the executor." No photographs are available, and the list is confusing, as it is not clear if all the issues are from Orville's library, or just some of them. The number of volumes doesn't add to 37. The first magazine listed appears to indicate 80, which makes no sense. "Aviation magazines from the early 20th century. Includes Mustrierte Aeronautische Mitteilungen. Berlin, 1908. 80, original wrappers--Zeitschrift fr Flugtechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt. Mnchen, 1910-1912. 24 vols.--sterreichischer Flugtechnischer Verein. Wien, 1910. Issues 22,23,24. 3 vols.--Aero, America's Aviation Weekly. St. Louis, 1911-1912. 5 vols.--L'Aerophile. Paris, 1909--sterreichische Flug-Zeitschrift. Wien, 1911--Flug-Motor-Technik. Wien, 1910--The Aeronautical Journal. London, 1921. 3 vols. Provenance: stamped from the private library of Orville Wright with the signature of the executor. Together 37 volumes of various sizes in original wrappers.(39)" The group sold for $1725. If 37 issues, each would have averaged $46.89.
The number of sales listed below is small, and include only those this Author was able to obtain sales records. Worthpoint.com lists an additional 5 magazines that have sold, but a subscription to the site is required to view the information. Others likely exist, and will be added eventually if the information becomes available.
The Aeronautical Journal 1921, December No. 132, Vol XXV
- Sold $30, July 16, 2021, Richard L. Edwards Auctioneer
- Sold $95, February 26, 2022, Richard L. Edwards Auctioneer
- Photo of H. S. Miller stamp not provided; this copy not confirmed.
Aeronautics 1910, September, Vol. VII, No. 3
- Sold $220, January 30, 2022, Yardley Antiques
Aero 1910, October 8, Vol. 1, No. 1
- Sold $440, January 29, 2023, Yardley Antiques
Aircraft 1910, March
- Sold $220, October 6, 2024, Yardley Antiques
L'Aerophile (Aerophile, meaning lover of aviation) 1909, Avril 1
- Sold $120, June 16, 2024, Yardley Antiques
Osterreichische Flug = Zeitschrift (Austrian Journal of Flight) 1911, Juni 10
- Sold $95, February 12, 2018, Yardley Antiques
Flug-Motor-Technik (Flight Engine Technology) 1909, November 10
- Sold $150, April 14, 2019, Yardley Antiques
Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Luftschiffahrt (German Journal of Aviation) 1908, November 18
- Sold $120, May 19, 2019, Yardley Antiques
Orville often had an additional copy(s) of a specific magazine, and multiple copies of a pamphlet or bulletin. The list below includes The Aeronautical Journal 1921 December issue, which is not the same copy as was sold twice as listed above. Orville had many copies of the March 12, 1906 Aero Club of America statement of the Wright Brother accomplishments in flight up to that time. He also had multiple copies of the 1916 "Beginning of Human Flight" pamphlet written by Orville for the MIT display of the 1903 Kitty Hawk Flyer.
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Author's Inventory
The Aeronautical Journal 1921, December No. 132, Vol XXV
- Very interesting magazine with Mr. Griffith Brewer's lecture concerning the Langley Machine and the Hammondsport Trials, with rebuttals by Dr. Charles D. Walcott, Dr. A. F. Zahm, and Mr. C. M. Manly. The rebuttals were full of sarcasm and historical revisionism.
- Orville’s handwriting on page 655, “Wind 12 miles, (Manly affidavit, pg 27)” Orville wrote this to indicate error in Mr. C. M. Manly's article claim that “there was no appreciable wind blowing when the [Langley] machine was launched on October 7th, 1903." Other underlines and exclamation marks, some in red, some blue, some in pencil. Issue is on Proceedings Second Meeting, 55th Session, lecture presented by Griffith Brewer on Langley Hammondsport Trials.
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| Orville Wright's notation with Author's copy of The Aeronautical Journal, December 1921. (1) |
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| Orville marks two exclamation marks after the Cosmos Club's statement. This within the Epilogue to Dr. A. F. Zahm's "Review of Experiments With The Rehabilitated Langley Aeroplane in 1914." Reading through the articles in this magazine, who could blame Orville Wright for sending the Kitty Hawk Flyer to England in 1928? (1) |
Aeronautics 1911, March
- Issue contains sketches and writing. Writing and sketch on cover in Wilbur's hand as evaluated by this Author.
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| Aeronautics March 1911 cover with "Patent", numbers, and sketch by Wilbur Wright. Handwriting on cover is shown compared to his handwriting from his Kitty Hawk diary. (1) |
Fly 1909, January, May, August
- The January issue has fingerprints on lower left front cover.
- The May issue has fingerprints on front and back cover, with a good set on lower front left cover.
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| From Orville Wright's estate, Fly magazine, May, 1909. Front cover finger or palm prints. This issue likely would have been handled by both Wilbur and Orville. It is not known if these marks are by either brother. (1) |
- The August issue has a fingerprint at upper right hand corner of front cover.
Fly 1911, June
- Slight partial fingerprint, front cover.
Flying 1913, November
Flying 1914, December
- Number calculation written at top of inside of back cover.
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| Flying December 1914 issue from Orville's estate, calculations on back cover. (1) |
Flying 1917, October
- WSU Archives also contains this issue.
The various finger and/or palm prints on these issues are interesting, but have not been studied by this Author. Likely, there are no known finger prints of the Wright's for a comparison, but perhaps they exist on some document.
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Wright State University Special Collections and Archives Inventory
1. The WSU archives have bound and loose issues from OW’s estate. WSU notes that issues include lineations and page markers, confirming the Wrights did mark in their issues. WSU collection is extensive. Only the following are listed here for comparison to those listed as part of the Author's collection. The complete list can be found within Wright Brothers Collection Part I: The Technical Library- Series 4 Technical Journals, Series 5 The Pamphlet Collection, and Other Institutional Publications and Journal Reprints.
a. Aeronautical Journal bound Jan 1897-Dec 1924. 13 bound books.
b. Aeronautics July 1907-Dec 1911, two volumes.
c. Aeronautics loose issues July-Oct 1907, Jan, June, Sept 1908, Sept, Oct 1909, Jan-April 1912, Nov 1912, Jan, March 1913, 10 issues 1914, March, June, July 1915.
d. Fly, III, July-Oct 1912 (multiple copies), Dec 1911-April 1912, July, Oct 1912, Nov 1912, June 1913, loose issues only.
e. Flying
Jan 1912, Dec 1915, two bound volumes. Loose issues Feb-March, Sept 1912, Dec
1913, March, Aug-Oct, Dec 1916, March, May, Oct-Dec 1917.
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Pamphlet- The Beginning of Human Flight, 1916
Orville had multiple copies of The Beginning of Human Flight. When this item has been offered at auction, the Bonhams description has read, "Orville Wright's own copy"; or "Beginning of Human Flight- Orville's copy". This description could be interpreted as Orville Wright's only copy, which would be incorrect. The list below indicates three copies sold, and this Author owns two additional stamped copies. Another stamped copy is pictured on ECU Digital Collections. Total number of stamped copies has not been determined.
Wright State University Special Collections and Archives Wright Brothers Collection MS-1, Part 1, Series 5 Pamphlets, Subseries 5D Miscellaneous Pamphlets, 1904-1945, has two copies of The Beginning of Human Flight.
The Beginning of Human Flight, stamped Orville Wright's estate, sold to collectors-
- 2022 May 29, Yardley Antiques, $675
- 2020 Nov 5, Bonhams, $1147 including BP
- 2013 Mar 25, Bonhams, $2500 including BP
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| The Beginning of Human Flight, The Wright Company, 1916. The issue to the left is not stamped. The two issues to the right, stamped on back, "From the private library of Orville Wright", and signed by H. S. Miller, executor. From Author's collection, not included in the above purchase list. |
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Bulletin- Aero Club of America March 12, 1906
The statement provided by the Wright Brothers for publication by the Aero Club of America in 1906 concerning their experiments at Kitty Hawk and at Dayton from 1900 through 1905 was published in this bulletin. Orville had a supply of these and would provide a copy occasionally in his correspondence. One such copy was sent by Orville to John W. Wood with a letter dated September 25, 1939. This copy is not stamped of course, but has provenance as being sent by Orville to Wood. Orville wrote, "Beginning near the bottom of page 1 is a record of several flights made in 1904 and 1905, taken from McMahon's book, "The Wright Brothers". Almost none of the data for these flights is correctly given. I therefore shall not attempt to correct them, but am sending you a bulletin of the Aero Club of America, March, 106, which gives correct account of the more important flights of 1904 and 1905...."
.jpg "Aero Club of America March 12, 1906 Bulletin Orville Wright copy") |
| Aero Club of America March 12, 1906 pamphlet sent to John W. Wood by Orville Wright in 1939. (1) |
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| Aero Club of America March 12, 1906 stamped copy, offered by Stuart Lutz through the Abe's Books website for $5000. A bit overpriced as it is not unique. |
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| Aero Club of America March 12, 1906 issue within Wright Brother scrapbook, courtesy of Dayton & Montgomery County Public Library Wright Brothers Collection. |
Related Posts-
Gleaning the History from Wright Brother Checks- Their styles and values.
Value of Historical Items Associated with the Wright Brothers
The 1903 Wright Flyer Fabric and Wood Remnants
Collecting Historical Items Associated with the Wright BrothersCollecting Letters of Orville Wright- Their Historical Content and Values
Collecting Letters of Wilbur Wright- Their Historical Content and Values- From Author's collection.
