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An early automobile enthusiast, Claude Grahame-White became captivated with flight following Louis Bleriot’s English Channel crossing in 1909. The first Englishman to receive a pilot’s license, he achieved numerous records and awards, including winning the Gordon Bennett Aviation Cup in 1910. He also formed his own aviation company in 1911. Prior to World War I, he wrote a multitude of books on aviation, most of which were coauthored with the aviation journalist Harry Harper. See more early aviation books in “Early Birds: Selections from the Tony Bill Aviation Library Collection, 1893–1914”, pre-security, in the Aviation Museum and Library in the International Terminal. The Aviation Museum and Library is open from Sunday through Friday, 10am to 4:30pm. This image was posted on January 11, 2016.