56
●
(WRIGHT BROTHERS)
Group of 19 photographs, most are from an album formerly in the collection of Frank Hermes,
comprising 15 vintage prints, nearly all of which were taken by OrvilleWright.The pictures depict
the brothers’ No. 2 glider, their subsequent heavier-than-air craft flying at Sims Field (including the
Model R) and close ups of machinery. Silver prints, various sizes from 3x3
1
/
4
to 4
1
/
2
x6
1
/
2
inches
(7.6x8.3 to 11.4x16.5 cm.), withWalt Burton’s handwritten notations, in pencil, on verso; 2 are on
the original mounts, with a typewritten caption on mounts recto and Burton’s notations on mounts
verso. 1901-1928; 4 are printed later
[20,000/30,000]
WITH
—
Hermes’ original album, with his handwritten captions and notations. (Each of the photographs has
been removed from the album, but many are offered in this lot.) Folio, wrappers. 1901-1910.
Frank Hermes; to the Collection of Walt Burton.
Frank Hermes, who was the principal of a local fabric company, hired Orville andWilbur to fly the first
shipment of freight. Mr. Hermes had four albums depicting the Wright’s flying machines and gave one
album to each of his four daughters. Mr. Burton had an opportunity to acquire two of the four albums.
According to Burton, each of the photographs was shot, developed and mounted by theWright brothers,
who gave the prints to Hermes. Many of the images now missing from the album in this lot were
purchased by the collector Tom Schiff.
Orville and Wilbur Wright were proprietors of a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio who dreamed about
inventing the first aircraft. In 1902 they developed a prototype, a kite in the shape of a flying machine,
which "flew" (although it was tethered). A year later, they realized their longstanding dream in Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina on Dec. 17, 1903, when their heavier-than-air craft actually took flight. A
historic picture (not offered in this lot) shows the Kitty Hawk Flyer at the end of the launch rail, about
two feet above the ground, with Orville lying at the controls andWilbur running alongside it. Although
the flights at Kitty Hawk were short (only a few hundred feet in less than 40 seconds), the brothers
were intent on perfecting their machine. By 1904, they developed their second powered machine, the
1904 flyer (which had an 18 horsepower engine), which they flew at Huffman Prairie. A tower was
built to hold a 1600-pound weight that, when dropped, would pull a rope that would speed the plane
along the launching rail. In these later flights, Orville flew a distance of 12 miles during which the flight
lasted an extraordinary 19 minutes.The lot includes a 25th-anniversary photograph of the launch rail
and crew at Sims Field, which was shot in 1928.
Photography played a key role in documenting this “first,” andWilliam Preston Mayfield, was responsible
for many of these iconic pictures. The Wrights were well aware of the unprecedented nature of their
“winged machine,” and their use of photographs provided empirical evidence of their claims. In addition,
to providing documentation the first pictures were also dramatic, aesthetically powerful images of an
historic event. It is interesting to note that in France, another early bastion of aviation, the Wright
Brothers were dismissed as “a pair of bluffers.” However, in 1908, at Le Mans,Wilbur flew an altitude
of 300 feet and set the world’s flying records for duration and distance.
Several of the prints in this group were reproduced in TheWright Brothers Legacy (Abrams, 2003).
