Those Fabulous Flying Machines

There was a time when children’s books refused to sit quietly on a shelf. They erupted. They unfolded. They sprang into life with cardboard determination, and Those Fabulous Flying Machines is one of those gloriously over-engineered survivors from that wonderfully optimistic era. Seymour Reit takes readers on a whistle-stop tour of humanity’s endless obsession with leaving the ground, from mythical wings and improbable contraptions to the Wright brothers, Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes and the Space Shuttle, all rendered in wonderfully theatrical pop-up form. It is part history lesson, part engineering experiment, and part reminder that, before tablets and smartphones, making a book physically explode into three dimensions was considered perfectly reasonable entertainment. 

This copy remains in Good condition, and—perhaps most impressively—the pop-up mechanisms are all still functioning. Considering the average childhood relationship with movable books usually involves sticky fingers, over-enthusiastic demonstrations and the occasional accidental act of structural engineering, that’s rather remarkable. The original punch-out model aeroplane itself has long since taken off for destinations unknown, but the assembly instructions are still present, allowing future owners to gaze wistfully at the diagrams while contemplating the fragile nature of both aviation and cardboard.

There’s something wonderfully ironic about a book celebrating mankind’s greatest flying achievements while simultaneously trusting children with an intricate paper engineering masterpiece. It is the literary equivalent of handing someone a crystal chandelier and saying, "Don’t worry, just play with it." Somehow, against the odds, this survivor has escaped the usual fate of torn wings, crushed propellers and pop-ups that now resemble modern art installations.

Perfect for collectors of vintage pop-up books, aviation enthusiasts, or anyone nostalgic for the days when educational publishing believed the best way to explain history was to have it literally leap off the page. It’s also an affectionate reminder that before CGI and virtual reality, a cleverly folded sheet of card could inspire just as much wonder as any digital screen. Sometimes all you needed to dream of flight was a little paper engineering, a vivid imagination, and a complete disregard for how difficult it would be to fold everything back into place afterwards.

Sold, with customary affection and only the mildest amount of aerodynamic sarcasm, by Crappy Old Books, where we firmly believe that every old book deserves another chance to get its feet—or in this case, its wings—off the ground.

Keep browsing: See more Transport books Other books by Seymour Reit