An exciting true story.

[ChrisGreaves]

emailed to me by a friend from Toronto:-

So, speaking of books... in the midst of a boring COVID filled winter, my family had a bit of excitement that I thought you could appreciate.

Part One: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

So, my story revolves around a quite famous book of verse by the Persian poet, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyam. He was born in 1048 and has a long list of mathematical and astronomical achievements. When his poetry was translated to English in 1859 under the title of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam his works attracted quite a large following.

As long as I can remember my father had a well worn copy and would often quote from it whenever a situation might warrant it. He'd sit at our kitchen table and fire off quotes such as “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” or “Dead yesterdays and unborn tomorrows, why fret about it, if today be sweet.” It started when I was a little kid so much of it went over my head, but my older sister absorbed, and remembered more.

Part Two: Amelia Earhart

As I'm sure you know, in 1932 Amelia Earhart became the first woman (and second person after Charles Lindbergh) to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She disappeared in 1937 while attempting to fly around the world.

I'm sure a lot of people don't know that in her teens before she got her pilot's license, AE lived in Toronto for two years while working as a volunteer treating returning injured soldiers at the old Spadina Military Hospital. Her sister was going to school here and the two of them would often go out to the local Toronto flying club to watch the young cadets do their flight training. She acknowledged later that that period was the start of her interest in flying.

Fast forward several years and AE is back in the U.S. and wants to learn to fly and convinces a woman pilot (Neta Snook - Author of "I Taught Amelia to Fly") to teach her. I will quote Snook here from a library book in my hands.

" The next day, January 3, 1921... Amelia turned up for her first lesson"..."I soon became accustomed to seeing her with a book. She always carried one" Neta recalled. Her interests ranged through "technical books on aviation to Rosetti's poems, Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, and Carl Sandburg".

Part Three: The Discovery

As I mentioned before, my older sister remembered well my father quoting Khayyam's Rubaiyat and something one of her daughter's said one day made her think of the book. When my dad died a few years ago she took the book home.

As she began reading the book her eyes kept returning to an owner's signature on the inside front cover. And the more she stared at it the more she thought she saw the name Amelia Earhart in the signature. Now please keep in mind this is well before we knew anything about the connection between the Rubaiyat and Earhart. That all came later as we did our research. She was coming at it cold.

So this haunted my sister to the point where she looked up a copy of Amelia Earhart's signature on the Internet and compared it to our copy. Then she made a video comparing the two. I'm sending along with the hope it's not too large for you to receive.

The book is in my desk as I write this. I believe we have Amelia Earhart's personal copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Neta Snook said she always carried a book. This is a very small "envelope" book which my other sister says makes sense because it would fit in a flight jacket pocket. Unfortunately, the cover is in very poor condition. The "envelope series" were the equivalent of an early 1900's paperback and were not made to last. On top of that, my sister never knew what she had so it was stored improperly without the care it deserves.

Still it's been an exciting discovery for us. It became even more so when our research led to Earhart's flight instructor specifically mentioning the exact title of the book in question.

Cheers, Chris

[LisaGreen]

That is soooo amazing Chris. Many thanks to your friend and yourself for sharing this!!!!!!

Lisa

[stuck]

...This is a very small "envelope" book which my other sister says makes sense because it would fit in a flight jacket pocket....

Umm, how come the book wasn't lost when Amelia Earhart went missing?

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

Umm, how come the book wasn't lost when Amelia Earhart went missing?

Hi Ken; that thought came to me, too, but I am 3.5 hours behind you so I have a little bit more time to think.

Neta Snook wrote ".. She always carried one ... technical books on aviation to Rosetti's poems, Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, and Carl Sandburg..."
We might read this as "She never carried more than one", and on the day she set off perhaps she knew Rubaiyat by heart, or had lent it to Douglas's dad, or perhaps she left it home thinking to get it rebound with the proceeds from her soon-to-be record-breaking flight.

We should rejoice that Douglas's sister was smart enough NOT to dunk the book in the bathtub to make it look as if it were reclaimed from the never-recovered wreckage!
Cheers, Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

That is soooo amazing Chris. Many thanks to your friend and yourself for sharing this!!!!!

Lisa, you are welcome. There is a great deal more to this story that is behind-the-scenes, but this bit, suitable for public broadcast, is amazing enough to stand on its own three feet.
For example, my bookselling friend, when a small boy, while Rubyiat was being quoted at the kitchen table, neither he nor his dad could have known that my friend would spend some time in the field of aviation engineering .
Cheers, Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

emailed to me by a friend from Toronto:-
Cheers, Chris

The leather helmet was expected to sell at around $80,000 ...
Cheers, Chris