for our Sir Barnes Wallis 'Dam Busters' Collection auction held on Wednesday 25th of March 2026
| Lot No | Description | Est | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | A piece of notepaper by Sir Barnes Wallis detailing calculations of airship fuel requirements for a 16 day round trip written in red ink with diagram verso, together with the 1924 Engineer Yearbook (split in half, loose boards and pages) within which it was found. 2905pp. 31st Edition. Yearbook signed B.N. Wallis to first page | 300-400 |
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| 39 | PRESCOTT, John. Applied Elasticity. London: Longmans Green and Co. 1924. 8vo, 656pp. Original blue cloth with faded lettered spine. Fading to spine, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Signed B.N. Wallis | 80-120 |
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| 40 | LEWITT, E. H. The Rigid Airship - A Treatise on The Design and Performance. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd. 1925. 8vo, 283pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine, rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Signed B.N. Wallis | 80-120 |
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| 41 | 2 vols. NEON. The Great Delusion: A study of Aircraft in Peace and War, London: Ernest Benn 1927. 8vo, bound in blue cloth, signed B.N. Wallis to endpaper together with MORLEY, Arthur. Strength of Materials. London: Longmans Green and Co. 1925. 8vo, 555pp. Original green cloth, gilt lettered spine. Minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine, wear to the edges of the covers. Stamped Airship Company Guarantee Company Ltd to book block | 100-150 |
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| 42 | Chambers Educational Course. Mathematical Tables. London: W. & R. Chambers, Limited. 12mo, 454pp. Original red cloth with black lettered spine. Spine and cover in poor condition, staining and foxing to paste down, endpaper and other pages. New Edition. With Airship Guarantee Company Limited stamp to pastedown. | 30-40 |
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| 43 | **Alfred Egerton Cooper R.B.A. (British, 1883-1974) "Putting on the outer fabric covering of the R100 in the shed at Howden", oil on canvas, signed and dated 1928 recto, additionally signed and dated 1928 with Bourlet label verso, 64cm x 77cm, within a painted wood frame. 76cm x 88cm. ** Artist's Re-sale Rights may be payable on this lot Provenance: Sir Barnes Wallis thence by descent. Note: The painting was reproduced in full colour in The Sphere, 28 September 1929, p. 26. It is prominently displayed on the wall of Barnes Wallis's office in the 1955 film "The Dam Busters", widely regarded as one of the best-known and most beloved British war films of the post-Second World War era, and appears in several publicity photographs of Barnes Wallis, including Roger George Clark's portrait of Sir Barnes Wallis at his desk, now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery | 1000-2000 |
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| 44 | Two sections of undoped linen possibly from an Airship stored in a brown envelope addressed to Sir Barnes Wallis' home address and postmarked Chichester November 1971 hand written to verso R100 fabric before 'doping' (not from drawers) 77cm x 75cm and 111cm x 189cm with sewn name tag M.F.Wallis (both cut) | 50-70 |
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| 45 | DIEHL, Walter S. Engineering Aerodynamics. New York: The Ronald Press Company 1928. 8vo, 288pp. Original blue cloth with gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Initialled B.N.W. Feb 1930 | 50-70 |
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| 46 | A 1930's tan leather 3 section satchel with leather straps and brass lock 29cm x 40cm x 9cm | 100-200 |
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| 47 | 5 vols. LONEY, S. L. Plane Trigonometry Part II. Cambridge: At The University Press 1918. 12mo, 211pp. Pen comments and formula bottom page 94, pencil ticks throughout. Original blue cloth with black lettered spine, fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine, staining to endpaper and back pages. Reprinted edition 1918. Signed B.N. Wallis. GHEURY DE BRAY, M. E. J. Exponentials Made Easy or The Story of "Epsilon". London: Macmillan and Co., 1921. 12mo, 253pp. Original green cloth with black lettered spine, fading to spine and cover, rubbing to corners and edges of spine, staining to endpaper and back pages. Mechanical World Year Book 1924. Manchester: Emmott & Company, Limited 1924. 12mo, 173pp. Original red cloth with black lettered spine, fading to spine and cover, damage to spine, rubbing to corners and edges. Thirty-Seventh Year of Publication. Signed B.N. Wallis. DUNKERLEY, S. Mechanism. London: Longmans, Green and Co. 1920. 8vo, 447pp. Original green cloth with gilt lettered spine, fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Third Edition, New Impression. Signed B.N. Wallis. STEWART, R. Wallace. The Tutorial Physics Volume IV. The Higher Text-Book of Magnetism & Electricity. London: W.B. Clive University Tutorial Press Ltd. 1920. 12mo, 750pp. Original brown cloth with gilt lettered spine. Spine damaged, rubbing to edges and to spine, severe ink staining to cover and edges of pages. Ex Libris Burlington House Cambridge to pastedown. Seventh Impression (Second Edition). Many pages marked with ticks, paragraphs identified with pencil lines and some pages marked in pencil "Omit". | 200-300 |
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| 48 | SPANNER, E. F. About Airships. London: E.F. Spanner, 9 Billiter Square E.C.3. 8vo, 206pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, rubbing to corners and edges of spine, tear and damage to spine. First Edition January 1929. Signed B.N. Wallis | 80-120 |
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| 49 | **Alfred Egerton Cooper R.B.A. (British, 1883-1974), HMA 9 Airship in Flight over Norfolk, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1917 recto, Bourlet label verso, 61cm h x 91cm w, within a painted wood frame 72cm x 103cm. ** Artist's Re-sale Rights may be payable on this lot Provenance: Sir Barnes Wallis thence by descent. Exhibited: possibly "Airships in Peace and War" Prince's Gallery, Knightsbridge, September 1919. The No 9 was the first airship Barnes Wallis worked on as an assistant at Vickers with Chief Designer H B Pratt and the first British airship to fly. A E Cooper and Barnes Wallis were close friends and Cooper is thought to have gifted the picture to Wallis. The painting likely depicts flight over Norfolk as the Airship was stationed from October 17th 1917 at Royal Naval Air Service Station Pulham (later RAF Pulham). The painting is clearly visible in many publicity photographs of Wallis in his office. | 3000-4000 |
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| 50 | A plastic diorama depicting the R.100 airship docked its mooring mast in St. Hubert Airfield, Quebec, Canada on August 3, 1930. 36cm h x 55cm l x 22cm d. The model visible in the background of many photos of Barnes Wallis' office and depicts the R.100 after its 78 hour transatlantic flight to Canada. | 300-400 |
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| 51 | COKER E.G. and FILON, L.N.G. A Treatise on Photo-Elasticity. Cambridge: At The University Press 1931. 4to, 720pp. Original black cloth with gilt lettered spine. Minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. The book with 16 coloured plates with protective pages. | 30-40 |
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| 52 | A chrome desk model/paperweight of an R.100 airship 20cm l x 4cm w, together with 2 volumes of Aircraft Engineering, February 1930 and June 1930, both with Department of Aeronautical Research & Development British Aircraft Corporation Ltd, Weybridge Division stamp to the front. | 300-400 |
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| 53 | Report of the R.101 Inquiry booklet, London His Majesty's Stationery Office 1931, paper bound booklet, 122pp, the cover signed B.N. Wallis. With Wallis' multiple critical marginal notes throughout. | 300-400 |
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| 54 | Report of the R.101 Inquiry booklet, London His Majesty's Stationery Office 1931, paper bound booklet, 127pp, the cover signed "FROM P.L. TEED TO B.N WALLIS" (in different hands), similar to Lot 53, though a scarcity of marginal notes. | 80-120 |
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| 55 | WHALE, George. British Airships, Past, Present & Future. London: John Lane 1919. 8vo, 244pp. Original grey cloth, maroon lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, rubbing to corners and edges of spine, third inner page coming loose from book, foxing in places. The book with pull out diagrams. Signed B.N. Wallis | 80-120 |
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| 56 | FRY, Thornton C. Probability and Its Engineering Uses. New York: D Van Nostrand Company, Inc. 1929, 8vo, 470pp. Original blue cloth with gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Second Printing. Pencil written notes to the bottom of page 148. | 100-150 |
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| 100 | ROUTH, Edward John. Elementary Rigid Dynamics - The Elementary Part of a Treatise on the Dynamics of a System of Rigid Bodies. London: Macmillan and Co, Limited 1930. 8vo, 443pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. Initialled B.N.W. 1943 | 50-70 |
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| 101 | MILNE-THOMSON, L.M. and COMRIE, L.J. Standard Four-Figure Mathematical Tables. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited 1931. 4to, 245pp. Original blue cloth with gilt lettered spine, Rubbing to corners and edges of spine, scratch marks to covers. Additional loose double sided, un-numbered copy of pages 244 and 245. Initialled B.N.W. Feb 1941 | 80-120 |
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| 102 | A 1930's double sided beech and plastic ruler by Norton and Gregory Ltd London and Glasgow having measurements of fractions of metres and feet, 45cm | 100-150 |
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| 103 | YOUNGER, John E and WOODS, Baldwin M. Dynamics of Airplanes and Airplane Structures. New York: John Wile & Sons Inc. London: Champion & Hall, Limited 1931. 8vo, 263pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. | 30-40 |
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| 104 | LOW, Bevis Brunel. Mathematics, A Text-Book for Technical Students. London: Longmans, Green and Co, 1931. 8vo, 448pp. Original blue cloth, gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, rubbing to corners and edges of spine, tear to edge of spine. Signed B.N. Wallis. | 80-120 |
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| 105 | MILNE-THOMSON L.M. Die Elliptischen Funktionen von Jacobi. Berlin: Verlag von Julius Springer 1931. 8vo, 69pp. Original green cloth with gilt lettered spine. Fading to spine and cover, minor rubbing to corners and edges of spine. | 30-40 |
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