Walker, Thomas

A Treatise on the Art of Flying, by Mechanical Means; with a Full Explanation of the Natural Principles by which Birds are enabled to Fly. Likewise Instructions and Plans for Making a Flying Car with Wings, in which a Man may Siit, and, by Working a Small Lever, cause Himself to ascend and Soar through the Air. New York: Printed and Sold by Samuel Wood, 1814



12mo (5 3/8 x 3 1/2 in.; 138 x 88 mm). 2 full-page wood-engraved illustrations; light browning, some marginal stains. Publisher's printed buff boards; rebacked, lightly worn and soiled.

Shaw & Shoemaker 33565; USAF/Gimbel 86 note

First American edition. Despite errors, Walker's pioneering work—which was the first on mechanical flight to be published in the United States—was influential. "Using calculations based on published studies of the condor, Walker proposed a rather heavy structure in which the flier sits in something akin to the cockpit of a light airplane. He operates the wings by pushing the stick-like lever backward and forward through a very wearying total distance of 3 feet" (Gimbel). Scarce.