Signed book: The Spirit of St. Louis. First edition. NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953. Hardcover with dustjacket, 6 x 8.5, 562 pages. Signed and inscribed in fountain pen on the title page, “To Dr. A. E. Ebeling with best wishes from Charles A. Lindbergh, August 1953, Publication date is Sept. 14th.” Ebeling was a close associate of vascular researcher Alexis Carrel (1873–1944), recipient of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Medicine. In the 1930s, Lindbergh’s mechanical inclinations led to a collaboration with Carrel on a book titled The Culture of Organs, as well as on the development of a “perfusion pump” which allowed human organs to survive outside the body—a crucial advance in the development of organ transplants and open-heart surgery. Despite the acclaim lavished upon Lindbergh and Carrel, who appeared together on the cover of Time magazine in June 1938, their respective legacies were forever clouded by intertwined controversies. At a time with the Nazi regime was becoming ever more blatant in its aims, Carrel, a devoted eugenicist, vigorously promoted the notion of genetic “superiority” among an elite group of intellectuals, going so far as to advocate the use of gas chambers to rid humanity of “inferior” stock. During World War II, moreover, he was closely allied with a prominent collaborationist party in France and implemented a number of policies believed to have resulted in the execution of countless “defectives.” Carrel’s ties with Lindbergh only added fuel to the persistent, lifelong accusations of anti-Semitism against the flier, which would forever sully his image as an aviation hero. Magazine clipping tipped to dedication page and just a hint of edge wear and small tear to jacket, otherwise very fine, bright, tight condition. A superlative example of this high point of aviation literature! R&R COA.
