(AVIATION) Bollée Léon; photographer Group of 4 photographs

Sale 2473 - Lot 40

Unsold

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

(AVIATION.) Bollée, Léon; photographer. Group of 4 photographs from the Wright Brothers' first public flight exhibitions. Silver prints, each about 4 x 6 inches; minor wear, mount remnants on verso. Le Mans, France, [circa August to October 1908]

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Early in 1908, the Wright brothers signed their first formal contracts to produce airplanes, one with the United States Army and the other with a French firm. Both contracts required the brothers to hold public demonstrations--a step they had never before taken. Wilbur Wright went to Europe for the first exhibition, which began on 8 August 1908 at a horseracing track in the French town of Le Mans. Over the next three months, Wright silenced the many skeptics with banking turns, figure-eights, and other technical feats which were far beyond what other aviators had accomplished. These photographs were taken by Léon Bollée, a prominent French automobile manufacturer in Le Mans who had agreed to let the Wrights use his factory for the French contract. One shows the weight of the plane's catapult launcher being hoisted prior to takeoff. Two show the Wright Brothers plane on the ground in front of a substantial crowd. Wilbur Wright appears in the final shot, wearing a heavy cap to the left in the foreground as he discusses the plane with three observers. Provenance: three Swann sales held in 1993 and 1994.