PLAYBOY of the AIR

Calling card laid into book signed by

JA Mollison
Australia~England

Michael Joseph. First edition first printing  1937.     288 pages.

Fine condition hardback book in red covers with yellow titles and endpapers. Heavyweight paper and internally very clean, tight and bright with no damage, foxing or previous owner markings.  The very scarce dustjacket (no others currently available) is in Near Fine condition with a 1cm loss to one corner and some edgewear.  It is not price clipped but there is a 1cm square cut out which has removed the price. None of this detracts from a jacket which looks very smart under its protective cover.

Jim Mollison (1905-1959) became a legend in his own lifetime and he was one of the most glamorous and famous men of the 1930s. 

After a short RAF career, he flew in Australia before seeking fame and fortune with his long distance solo flights during the golden age of aviation. In July-August 1931, Mollison set a record time of 8 days, 19 hours for a flight from Australia to England, and in March 1932, a record for flying from England to South Africa in 4 days, 17 hours. For sheer bravery and unrelenting determination in the air he was without peer.  Not only was he the first person to complete a successful trans-Sahara flight from the UK to the Cape alone but he also had the distinction of being the first person to solo both North and South Atlantic oceans. His marriage to the equally famous Amy Johnson and their subsequent flying partnership in the Thirties aroused the type of frenzied adulation which was normally reserved for British Royalty.

Mollison’s flying achievements were only surpassed by his not-so-private life with numerous affairs and his playboy persona and hard drinking were headline news.  His book ‘Playboy of the Air’ was an early ‘kiss and tell’ memoir which nowadays might seem fairly innocuous but at the time it was shocking and finished his marriage to Amy. From the jacket blurb: ‘….a book which would be incredible if it were not true. ‘Playboy of the Air’ reveals the truth about the big flight ‘racket’ and is one of the most outspoken and sensational personal stories that has ever been published.’

Both Amy Johnson and Mollison served in the ATA  in World War II. Johnson was killed while ferrying an aircraft in 1941. Jim Mollison was awarded an MBE for his services with the ATA but after the war succumbed to alcoholism and died in 1959.

A fantastic copy of a notorious and rare flying memoir, enhanced by a neat Mollison signature.