SANTOS-DUMONT ALBERTO: (1873-1932) Brazilian pioneer aviator. An excellent, bold dark fountain pen ink signature ('A. Santos=Dumont') and date, 3rd February 1911, in his hand on a small 4to page removed from an autograph album. Neatly affixed immediately above the signature is a fine original 5 x 3.5 photograph of the Santos-Dumont Demoiselle aircraft in flight over a tree-lined field. A few very light, minor stains, not affecting the signature or photograph. About VG

The Santos-Dumont Demoiselle, which consolidated the Brazilian's role in the birth of aviation in the 20th century, was a light-weight monoplane with a wire-braced wing mounted above an open-framework fuselage built from bamboo. The pilot's seat was below the wing and between the main wheels of the undercarriage. The Demoiselle was the last aircraft built by Santos-Dumont and the French pioneer aviator Roland Garros learned to fly in the Demoiselle, later flying one at Belmont Park, New York, in 1910.