- Title: We
- Author: Charles Lindbergh
- Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons
- Estimated year of printing: 1927
Notes:
We is Lindbergh’s autobiography and first book, published just a few months after his historic transatlantic flight in 1927.
Charles Lindbergh was born in 1902, and was raised in Minnesota. He started to learn how to fly in 1922, and joined the U.S. Army Air Service in 1924. In 1919 the Orteig Prize was established, a competition for the first nonstop transatlantic flight between New York and Paris, with a prize of $25,000. Lindbergh acquired funding and worked with Ryan Aircraft to design a custom monoplane, which became the Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh took off from New York on Friday, May 20, 1927, and landed in Paris on Saturday, May 21. Lindberg instantly became a global celebrity, achieving the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight.
A first manuscript for We was quickly ghostwritten by New York Times reporter J. Carlisle MacDonald, who had interviewed Lindbergh in Paris and during the 6-day voyage back to New York. A complete draft was available for review within 2 weeks of his return to New York, however Lindbergh rejected the book due to factual errors and disliking the writing style. Instead, he completely rewrote the book himself, working in solitude for 3 weeks. The book was published on July 27, 1927, and became an instant bestseller. This copy is from the 18th printing of the first edition, from October, 1927.
Five years later, in 1932, Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son would be kidnapped and murdered, in what became known as the “Crime of the Century”. The unrelenting public attention resulting from this incident resulted in Lindbergh and his family relocating to Europe for several years. He spent his final years in Hawaii, and died in 1974 of lymphoma.
This book appears to have been previously owned by a Charles Lindbergh enthusiast, as it contains a great deal of ephemera tucked between the pages. Most notably, it contains 3 postcards featuring photographs of Lindbergh, which, as best I can tell, are from shortly after his 1927 flight. It also has several newspaper and magazine clippings ranging from the 1990’s to 2000’s related to Lindbergh’s flight.
Historical context:
The Wright Brothers achieved their first manned heavier-than-air flight in 1903. In 1919, the U.S. Navy achieved the first transatlantic flight, albeit not non-stop. Two weeks later, John Alcock and Arthur Brown conducted the first nonstop transatlantic flight. In 1924, a crew from the U.S. Army Air Service achieved the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh achieved the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight.