Substantial group of 1940-1943 English aircraft identification books, cards & ephemera
London: Nicholson & Watson, Penguin, Country Life, Aeroplane, etc. 1940-1943. Wraps. Group of 19 aircraft identification books, over 200 silhouette cards, and a War Planes card game, all collected by Robert Mansfield (1926-2010) as a teenager in London and Coventry; he was a schoolmate of the author Philip Larkin at the Coventry King Henry VIII School (4 years younger) and amassed a group of books during the Blitz from 1940-43. Condition is good to very good with tanning, wear and usage, all intact and described individually as follows: 1. Aircraft Recognition, by R. A. Saville-Sneath, Penguin 1941, 2nd printing, paperback, pages browning; 2. Aircraft Recognition, Saville-Sneath, Vol. I revised, 1943; 3. Basic Aircraft Recognition, Gibbs-Smith, Country Life, 1st, 1942, 9.5 x 6.25 inches, cloth wraps, good, some curling, signed by Mansfield; 4. Aeroplane Recognition Tests, Parts 1-6, 1940-42, each 16-18 pp, good with some wear and soil, tanning, mixed impressions, all published by The Aeroplane; 5. Aircraft Idenitification: British Monoplanes, Part One, second edition, first impression, 1942, published by The Aeroplane & the Temple Press; each of the following books plus this one measure 8 x 5.5 inches, wraps, 64 pp., illustrated, good or better condition; 6. German Monoplanes, Part Two, first impression of the second edition, 1942; 7. American Types for the R.A.F., Part Four of Aircraft Idenitification, Friend or Foe? 1941; 8. British and German Fighters and Bombers, Part One of Aircraft Identification, Friend or Foe? 2 copies: 2nd impression of the first edition and revised edition, both 1940; 9. Troop Carriers and Seaplanes, British Trainers, Part Two of Aircraft Identification, Friend or Foe?, 2 copies, first impression and revised edition, Sept. and Dec. 1940; 10. Aircraft Identification, How to Tell Friend from Foe, by the staff of The Aeroplane, 8 x 5.5 inches, 32 pp, foreword dated 1939, light mottling to covers; 11. King of Air Fighters, the biography of Major "Mick" Mannock, by Ira Jones, paperback ca. 1940, some leaning to spine, tanning and light wear; 12. Guide to Aircraft Identification, by Leonard Taylor, poster folds open to 15 x 20 inches, very good, ca. 1941; 13. ca. 250 aircraft identification cards, issued by the Royal Observer Corps Club by courtesy of "The Aeroplane," each measuring 4.25 x 3.25 inches on stiff card stock, showing silhouettes of airplanes from the side, front and overhead, ca. 1940; 14. War Planes, a Card Game for Aircraft Spotters, in used double-slipcase measuring 2.5 x 3.75 inches and containing directions leaflet and 67 cards as called for. Case somewhat worn but still sturdy, cards very good, light wear and soil, with silhouettes of planes in red or black. 15. Planes Explained, by Roger Tennant. Argus Press, ca. 1940. Paperback, good with some soil and tanning. Mansfield's family said that Robert was indeed caught in the Blitz in London and had to seek shelter in the Underground with his family on at least three occasions, but all emerged safe and their residence intact through the war. A handsome assemblage, and his early training as an aircraft spotter paid off for Mansfield; he was employed as a mechanical engineer for more than 40 years, working on aircraft engines, the U.S. space program and nuclear fuel reprocessing. He received master's degrees from Oxford University (Merton College), United Kingdom, and the University of Idaho. He was not particularly close to Larkin, since Larkin was four years older and a fairly insular chap, but the two did serve together on the school literary magazine in which Larkin's first ever poems appeared. Good. Item #H30195
Price: $150.00