ZEPPELIN FERDINAND VON: (1838-1917) German General and inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships which dominated long-distance flight until the 1930s. A.L.S., G v. Zeppelin, two pages, 8vo, Friedrichshafen, 13th April 1901, to [Hermann Stade] ('Lieber Herr Doktor'), in German. Zeppelin writes in response to an essay on the subject or airships which Stade had sent him for review, stating that it is now in the hands of the Engineers' Association in Berlin and is unlikely to be included in the journal Deutscher Ingenieure, although could still be published following Hugo Kubler's report in the Illustrirten Aeronautischen. With blank integral leaf. VG Hermann Stade (1867-1932) German meteorologist and polar researcher.