aviation as his primary motive for the flight, and tried to capture that in his book. Prior to the publication of The Spirit of St. Louis on September 14, 1953, Lindbergh presented an advance copy in August 1953 to Carl B. Allen, who had read the manuscript and provided criticism and suggestions (he is included in the Acknowledgements). Accompanying the inscribed book was a two-page typewritten letter signed by Lindbergh that provides information about some of the challenges the author faced in the writing of the book. In the months leading up to its publication, Lindbergh and his wife Anne labored over the galley proofs, leaving no detail unnoticed. Charles Scribner would later recall, "He would measure the difference between a semicolon and a colon to make sure each as what it ought to be. To him, every detail in the book has as much significance as if it were a moving part in the airplane." Just prior to publication, Lindbergh dedicated the book to his wife, "To A.M.L. Who will never realize how much of this book she has written". A dark blue dustjacket was prepared by George W. Thompson of a night sky filled with stars. The book's endpapers were reproduced from an original aquatint by Burnell Poole titled, "The Epic of the Air". Reception The Spirit of St. Louis was an overwhelming bestseller and generated near universal praise and favorable reviews. The Book of the Month Club alone sold over 100,000 copies in the first year, with several hundred thousand additional copies sold in bookstores and elsewhere. The Chicago Daily News called it a "stunning, tremendously beautiful reading experience ... a classic of adventure writing." Time noted, "At its exciting best, this book keeps the reader cockpit close to a rare adventure." And Lindbergh biographer Brendan Gill concluded, "The best authority on Lindbergh is Lindbergh." In his book review that appeared in The New York Times on September 13, 1953, Quentin Reynolds wrote: Later editions The Spirit of St. Louis continued to be reprinted in a number of editions with a variety of different covers with the copyright being renewed in 1981 by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Later reprints beginning with the 1993 edition for the Minnesota Historical Society Press, featured an introduction written by Reeve Lindbergh. The latest hardcover and paperback editions are published by Scribner, the modern counterpart of the original, Charles Scribner's Sons. Scribner's 1956