INSCRIBED BY ANTHONY FOKKER TO LORD BEAVERBROOK

FOKKER, Anthony H.G., and GOULD, Bruce. Flying Dutchman. The Life of Anthony Fokker. New York: Henry Holt, (1931). Octavo, original russet cloth, original dust jacket. $2200.

Signed limited first edition of the autobiography, number 165 of 215 copies signed by Anthony Fokker, none of which was for sale, inscribed on the frontispiece, "To Lord Beaverbrook in sincere admiration for his achievements and his interest in aviation. Fokker. May 1935."

Dutch aviation engineer and industrialist Anthony Fokker is credited with inventing the synchronized machine gun that made his planes such a deadly force for the Germans during World War I. The terms of the armistice ended the production of his planes in Germany. After a return to his homeland (complicated by the fact that Germany had forced unwilling citizenship on him in order to keep him in Germany during the war), Fokker eventually made his way to the United States, where he founded the Atlantic Aviation Corporation. This copy is inscribed to English-Canadian media baron Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, whose Daily Express newspaper had the largest circulation in the world in the 1930s; a dedicated conservative, in his day his influence was akin to that of the Murdochs today. His close friend Winston Churchill appointed Beaverbrook Minister of Aircraft Production in May of 1940, and his relentless expectations for increased production and improved supply chains is credited with providing the planes needed for victory in the Battle of Britain.

Book with minor split to front inner paper hinge, text and cloth fine; price-clipped original dust jacket bright with only minor wear. Near-fine condition.