Burnside Rare Books

The Flight of the Green Goose [Private Photo Album]

Ashe, Earl

[no place]: [Earl Ashe], 1947.

Prepared for Stanhope Wood Nixon and Doris Ryer Nixon by Earl Ashe in 1947. Bound in dark green buckram cloth lettered in gilt on the upper board. Hand-drawn color map on the front endpapers showing the route of the trip, signed H. E. A. '47 (Earl Ashe) in lower right corner; 65 photographs affixed to one side with captions written on the leaves. Very Good with wear, soiling and discoloration to boards. Paper residue at rear board with damp staining to margins throughout, waviness and musty odor to contents. Slight silvering to a few photographs.

A unique aviation album documenting the travels of the Nixons by small plane from Miami to Nassau/Bahamas, San Salvador/Watling Island, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Cub before returning to Miami in the late 1940's. Photos show the plane on the tarmac in Miami, the flight attendant Betty Jones and cruise conductor, Chas. Evans; members of the small traveling group; as well as hotels, forts, distilleries, airports, territorial views from the plane and sighed at various stops along the way. Includes a large color map of the Dominican Republic published by The Hotel Jaragua, a small hand-written card for a recipe for mojitos "as mixed by The Tropicana", and a colorful label from Coama Springs Hotel in Puerto Rico.

Described as a man of "many vices," Stanhope Wood Nixon (1894-1958) attended Yale University and was arrested for assault in 1914 after nearly killing a man with a large metal bolt. He joined New Jersey's Nixon Nitration Works where his father was president, becoming vice president and later head of the company. Nixon Nitration Works was the scene of a tragic explosion and disaster in 1924, killing over twenty people and destroying forty buildings. His son, Lewis Nixon III, was an Army officer for the United States and famously served for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He was portrayed in the popular HBO short series Band of Brothers by Ron Livingston. Item #140946929

Price: $750