?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500
(FIRST FLIGHT) The Wright Brothers' First Flight in the Kitty Hawk, December 17, 1903. Silver print, the image measuring 5x6 3/4 inches (12.7x17.1 cm.), the sheet slightly larger, the mount 7 7/8x10 inches (20x25.4 cm.), with a typed label with the caption, date, and J.R. McMahon's return address and various notations in pencil on mount recto, and two press stamps and additional notations in pencil on mount verso. 1903; printed circa 1915
Provenance: John McMahon Collection
This image was reproduced in the first book on the Wright Brothers by John R. McMahon titled The Wright Brothers: Fathers of Flight published in 1930. In early 1915, Orville and Katharine Wright retained Earl Findley to compose a lengthy article detailing the history of the Wright Brothers. Findley collaborated with John R. McMahon and the pair visited the Wright family in 1915 in order to conduct research, staying for six weeks. Upon reading the draft, Wright, unsatisfied with the quality of the work, decided not to allow publication. The project lay dormant for a number of years until 1930, when, unbeknownst to Findley or the Wrights, McMahon published a series of articles and the biography, setting off a bitter dispute between the authors. This print bears the address and name of McMahon, making it likely that the work was printed or given to the writer when he visited the family.
