The first imperial aeroplane routes. O.R. 304. Ordnance Survey 1926. Printed at the War Office, 1926. The approach towards a system of imperial air communications. Air Ministry. London : Printed and published by His Majesty's Stationary Office. 1926. The first imperial aeroplane routes.

Map showing the first imperial air routes across North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia in 1926. Shows political boundaries, cities, railways, topography, drainage, coastlines and islands. Relief shown with hachures. Includes latitudinal and longitudinal lines, as well as a legend. Colored lithograph. Map is 29 x 48 cm, on fold-out sheet 33 x 54 cm. Accompanied by descriptive text on pages 5-8. The approach towards a system of imperial air communications, by the Air Ministry of Great Britain, printed and published by His Majesty's Stationery Office in London, 1926. The Air Ministry was a governmental department of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, which existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State for Air. Atlas is bound in board, covered in light blue paper. Collation: [2], xiii, 91 pages, with [30] leaves of plates, including one folded map housed within a pocket on the verso of back cover. Plates contain 25 maps, 13 views and 3 diagrams. Maps show both existing and proposed air routes, as well as political boundaries, cities, railways, steamship lines, topography, vegetation, lakes, drainage, coastlines and islands. Views are captured photographically, some from an aerial perspective, and illustrate the landscape in detail. Diagrams depict airship construction and layout. In addition to two world maps, geographic coverage focuses on Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the United States, Canada and Australia. Volume includes a preface by the Secretary of State for Air, Samuel Hoare, as well as a report by the Imperial Air Communications Special Sub-Committee, a statement on imperial air communications to the imperial Conference, 1926, and Appendices A-F, which provide descriptive text on maps within the atlas. "Sole edition of this large-format, pivotal early document in the development of international air travel - complete with all 29 plates and the often-lacking loose map. The principal concern of the British during this period was accelerating air transport between the vast reaches of their empire - and chief among these was the lengthy journey to India, via the Middle East. As noted on p. 5, the maximum range of commercial aircraft in 1926 was a mere 400 miles; perhaps partly for this reason, the existing and proposed air routes include numerous stops for refueling in the oil-rich regions of Syria, Iraq, and Iran. - The stated aim of the Air Ministry was in fact to reduce the journey to India to just 5 days (p. VI), and although bold proposals are put forward and illustrated for giant "airships" with a range of 4,000 miles, the then-current technology limited aircraft to a designated route along the northern coast of the Arabian Gulf. Facing the challenge of "the extreme heat and the height of the Arabian Plateau, both of which tend to reduce the load with which an aeroplane can rise from the ground" (p. 9), the route is amply illustrated on numerous folding maps, from Cairo via Gaza, Rutbah Wells (Iraq), Baghdad, Basra, Bushire, Bandar Abbas, Chahbari, Pasni, Karachi, Hyderabad, etc. - Other chapters cover fascinating proposals for "major air routes" between Ottawa, London, and Kingston, Jamaica; "the use of wireless in air traffic communications" (p. 62); early air routes in Australia and the United States; and so on. The plates include designs for proposed experimental "airships"; photographs of early airports, and maps of meteorological phenomena. Particularly interesting is the "Map Showing Areas in Which Main Imperial Airship Routes Will Probably Develop" (facing p. 74), which indicates that alongside the Transatlantic route, the coasts of the Arabian Gulf (but not the interior) as well as the coasts of Africa will be the next targets of development." (Antiquariat Inlibris, 2021)