Old kite literature

[Exult]

An ”Outdoor Book for Boys” from 1907 on Gutenberg got a chapter about kites:

Harper’s Outdoor Book For Boys, Joseph H. Adams, 1907
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/53705/53705-h/53705-h.htm#chapter_viii

Perhaps a kite builder could find any inspiration from the detailed figures (in clarity often outperforming many modern photos IMO):

About these 13 - 15 ft Maui kites:
”It would glide about in graceful curves or dart suddenly towards the ground only to soar upward just as suddenly”.
The text didn’t say if they were fighter kites or not though.
Also, very easy to relate to:
”I watched for some time their graceful, birdlike motion and then tried to buy one. They seemed loath to part with them, however, and it was only after I had exhausted nearly all my persuasive powers and all the small change in my pockets that I succeeded in obtaining one.”
The pain to part from a  well flying kite is timeless I’d think.

 

Kite reel. Don’t get rid of your old bicycle, you never know when there is a use for salvaged parts? Re-cycling (no pun intended) has come into fashion again.

Yes the content may not always be compatible with modern views on gender and supposed favoured activities and that of original population/ethnic groups, but is very interesting as a historical document and contains detailed figures of kites. 1907 tinkering/tinkerers ”becomes alive”.

The book is by no means limited to kites, on the contrary it is a kind of a diverse DIY book with a positive optimistic spirit. Do you want to build a pumping windmill, pigeon-cote, a fountain, ice yacht, snow shoes, traps, a land yacht (no kite buggies though), a tree hut… as they did it in 1907?

Also this book encourages not to stop playing during the winter:

”All real boys welcome the approach of the winter season with its glorious opportunities for sport on the snow and ice. Toboggans, double-runners, skees, and snow-shoes—the very words make the blood tingle in one’s veins, and happy is the boy whose home is in the Northern climes where there is real winter for at least four months out of the year.”

[mebeatee]

Here’s the oldest one I have.....from 1964. Some way cool kites inside and some early versions of some of today’s kites. I wonder if there are any writings....“scrolls”....of some centuries old kite designs somewhere....??

I remember the compendiums for boys and girls as a kid. My grandparents would send one for me and one for my sister over from Wales....late ‘50’s to early ‘60’s when (seemed to be more of an UK thing?) we were...body wise anyway...kids. I still am at heart...lol.

bt