Aircraft

Signed by the artist on the half-title (see picture below), b&w frontispiece and 48 colour plates (mostly full-page), very numerous other b&w illustrations from paintings, pencil drawings and photographs, 96 pp, blue boards in d/w, in very good condition, David & Charles (Newton Abbot, Devon) 1990

28 x 31.6 cm, 1170g, ISBN 0 71539 395 2

See the description on the left from the dustwrapper flap, but this barely does justice to the book.  Far from being a simple picture-book with captions, the book has a great deal of text – some by John Young himself, explaining when and why the paintings were painted, and other descriptions from those who commissioned, or now own, the paintings, explaining the background to the actions, mostly from the Second World War.  See the specimen pages below.  The book was published in 1990 at £35, which would be £103 in today’s money, so it is almost inconceivable the book would ever be reprinted.

The artist’s signature on the half-title appears to be genuine – it matches the signatures on the paintings, and the ball-pen ink shows through slightly in blue on the other side of the page.  It is very unusual to find a signed copy – the only others I have found for sale on the web are from Canada or the USA, starting at £76.44!

This is a surprisingly heavy book for its 96 pages, as the publisher used heavyweight glazed paper to better reproduce the many paintings.  This means that the book would cost a good deal to send abroad - if you are outside the U.K. and are thinking about buying it, please email us first on enquiries@monkshillbooks.co.uk and we will quote a price for postage.