R&R is pleased to offer one of the most unusual, and certainly one of the earliest, relics of America’s first man in space, Alan B. Shepard, Jr.: the crib used by him as an infant, circa mid-1920s. The full-sized, off-white painted wood and metal crib, which features side panels covered with window screen, is the same crib from which Shepard first observed the world around him—and perhaps first dreamed of worlds beyond his own. The crib was later handed down in the family for use by Shepard’s younger cousins before it was gifted to our consignor (whose connection to the Shepards is explained below). The crib includes a vintage mattress with a printed animal pattern, probably an early replacement for its later occupants. Included with the crib is an equally remarkable relic of the young astronaut-to-be: a handwritten autobiographical booklet written by Shepard as a child, probably as a school project, circa 1933. The booklet, titled “Me” and dedicated to Shepard’s mother, comprises approximately 15 pages in pencil (both single- and double-sided), stitched within a handmade cover decorated with an allover geometric pattern in crayon. Shepard has signed on the title page as “Alan B. Shepard” and signs again as “Alan Shepard” as part of a cast list for a play he was in titled “The Christmas Stockings.” The text is divided into six chapters per the “Contents” page: “My Babyhood,” “Walking and Talking,” “Things I Did,” “School,” “Good Times,” and “Today.” The opening chapter, “My Babyhood,” is particularly interesting for the detailed documentation it provides related to the very crib we are offering: “My crib was white, it was screened in. It had wheels on it [now missing]. My cousins have used it. Now my eighth cousin has it....” Some other excerpts [Shepard’s spelling and punctuation retained]: “When I was thirteen months old I took five or six steps across the floor.... My first word was baby. I spoke it December 1924.... When I was three years old I went into sombody’s garage and found a can of paint. I saw a car near it. Then I took the can of paint and poured it over the car. I got spanked for it so I thought I had better not do it again.... At Christmas I asked for a jacknife and got it.... Sunday March 19 at half past three my father and I went to tune the organ. We tuned about 600 pipes.... My ambition is a carpenter....” The text is supplemented throughout with affixed magazine illustrations. The lot is accompanied by a letter of provenance from the daughter of the original owner, who was in the employ of the Shepard family for more than 35 years. The crib, which exhibits normal wear commensurate with its age and purpose, will be shipped disassembled. (The original metal pins used to join the corners are missing but can easily be replaced. As the crib predates the era of product safety guidelines, it is sold as an historic relic only and is obviously not intended for use.) Apart from some light wear and tears to the covers, not affecting the pages or any text, the booklet is in fine, clean condition. A pair of artifacts from one of America’s key space pioneers that surely merits an all-too-overused distinction: unique! Oversized. R&R COA.
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