“Is t he Future War-Ship to be Aeroplane or Balloon?”, a glorious 2pp (16” x 23”) illustration in the Illustrated London News, August 31, 1907, pp 293-328. 16” x 11.5”. Original wrappers, removed from a larger bound volume Good condition. $100

This image was drawn by Harry Grant Dart only four years after the wrights’ powered flight at Kill Devil. It features four images of enormous aircraft as well as two smaller images, none of these seem to be the balloons in question in the title of the artwork, the artist seeming to have come down on the side of the aeroplane. That said, these aircraft are massive—iterating by the figures on deck the plane was close to 50’ tall with wings that must’ve been 100’ wide. Everything seems to be massively heavy, looking more like steam-fired ships (“flying battle-ships”) than anything else…except for their resemblance to birds and dragonflies.  Also of note in the upper right corner is a missile—an “aerial torpedo—fired at one of the aircraft.

Harry Grant Dart (1869-1938) was a correspondent, artist, and cartoonist who worked for the New York World, Life, and Judge, whose specialties seem to involve techno-future-vision.