This auction has ended. View lot details
You may also be interested in
Lot 500
James Hare album containing 55 photographs of Wright Brothers.
5 December 2018, 14:00 EST
New YorkUS$15,000 - US$25,000
Looking for a similar item?
Our History of Science & Technology specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Client Services (Los Angeles)
Client Services (New York)
James Hare album containing 55 photographs of Wright Brothers.
Photo album and letter of James Hare, who photographed the Wright Brothers' demonstration flights in 1908 and 1909, comprising:
1. Album, oblong folio, mounted with 55 gelatin silver prints, various sizes ranging from 4-1/4 x 3-1/4 inches to 6 x 4 inches. Captions include: "Correspondents crossing sand dune to see if Wright Brothers are actually flying at Kill Devil Hill N.C."; "First [published] picture of airplane actually flying [May 1908]" with the word "published" and the date added later; "Engine started, propellers working" (at Fort Myer); "Last picture of Lieut. Selfridge before the accident" and "Wilbur takes a canoe aloft at Governor's Island." Most of the photographs are placed in sequential order depicting lift off, flight, and landing, with multiple shots of planes in mid-flight. The album also includes crowds gathering to watch the flight, such as Robert Taft's viewing party which included his son Charlie, and the Wright Brothers receiving medals. 9 images have been removed, leaving residue from corners.
2. Autograph Manuscript, unsigned, but ostensibly in the hand of Jimmy Hare, 8 pp, 4to, attesting to his experience photographing the Wright Brothers' flights: "For many years I had been assured by admiring friends that I was the first photographer to get a picture of the Wright bros in their aeroplane ... but of late years I have seen a photograph ... taken by the Wright Bros ... I still believe mine was the first published in the Colliers...." There are line-outs and notations in the text, indicating it was a draft.
Provenance: Christie's, 16 April 1991.
English-born photojournalist James H. (Jimmy) Hare became perhaps the most prolific photographer for Collier's Weekly after photographing the events of the Spanish American War. He photographed the Wright brothers flights at Kill Devil Hills in 1908, and again at Fort Myer that year. Hare's photographs were published in Collier's Weekly on May 30, 1908, marking the first appearance of the Wright Flyer in print. He also took two of the last photographs of Lieut. Selfridge (included in this album), the first man to die from an aviation accident, moments before his fatal flight. After documenting five wars and numerous historical events in the early 20th century, Hare retired in 1929.
1. Album, oblong folio, mounted with 55 gelatin silver prints, various sizes ranging from 4-1/4 x 3-1/4 inches to 6 x 4 inches. Captions include: "Correspondents crossing sand dune to see if Wright Brothers are actually flying at Kill Devil Hill N.C."; "First [published] picture of airplane actually flying [May 1908]" with the word "published" and the date added later; "Engine started, propellers working" (at Fort Myer); "Last picture of Lieut. Selfridge before the accident" and "Wilbur takes a canoe aloft at Governor's Island." Most of the photographs are placed in sequential order depicting lift off, flight, and landing, with multiple shots of planes in mid-flight. The album also includes crowds gathering to watch the flight, such as Robert Taft's viewing party which included his son Charlie, and the Wright Brothers receiving medals. 9 images have been removed, leaving residue from corners.
2. Autograph Manuscript, unsigned, but ostensibly in the hand of Jimmy Hare, 8 pp, 4to, attesting to his experience photographing the Wright Brothers' flights: "For many years I had been assured by admiring friends that I was the first photographer to get a picture of the Wright bros in their aeroplane ... but of late years I have seen a photograph ... taken by the Wright Bros ... I still believe mine was the first published in the Colliers...." There are line-outs and notations in the text, indicating it was a draft.
Provenance: Christie's, 16 April 1991.
English-born photojournalist James H. (Jimmy) Hare became perhaps the most prolific photographer for Collier's Weekly after photographing the events of the Spanish American War. He photographed the Wright brothers flights at Kill Devil Hills in 1908, and again at Fort Myer that year. Hare's photographs were published in Collier's Weekly on May 30, 1908, marking the first appearance of the Wright Flyer in print. He also took two of the last photographs of Lieut. Selfridge (included in this album), the first man to die from an aviation accident, moments before his fatal flight. After documenting five wars and numerous historical events in the early 20th century, Hare retired in 1929.