Apollo 11 Mission Control Commentary of the First Lunar Landing and First Moon Walk.

4to, US Letter (205 x 270 mm). Two mimeographed fascicles, 27 ff. + 27 ff., stapled, numbered 295/2-313/1 and 330/2-347/1. Together 54 pages (leaves printed on one side only), preserved in two custom-made petrol-coloured cloth folding boxes. A rare copy of the original transcripts from the Apollo 11 Mission tapes: two mimeographed NASA mission-commentary fascicles preserving, in near real time, the touchdown of the lunar module Eagle and Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon. - The first transcript records the descent and landing with the full pressure of Mission Control's technical and emotional tempo intact, culminating in Armstrong's announcement, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed" (GET 102:43), and CAPCOM's famously relieved reply that the room could breathe again. - The second transcript opens with the preparations for extravehicular activity and follows Armstrong down the ladder to the lunar surface ("That's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind", GET 109:20), transmitting the first moonwalk as it unfolded for the press and for history. It likewise preserves the astronauts' first observations of the terrain, including Aldrin's description of a landscape of extraordinary variety in shape, texture, and rock formation. - Produced by NASA's Public Affairs Office for distribution at Mission Control, such fascicles were working documents rather than commemorative printings, and their survival is correspondingly elusive. They belong to the documentary front line of the Apollo programme, capturing the moment at which live speech became permanent historical record. Few texts of the 20th century so directly register the convergence of engineering precision, political theatre, and collective wonder. Issued on the day of the landing itself, these transcripts stand among the defining survivals of the first manned lunar landing and the first moonwalk. - Each sheaf perfectly preserved in a separate custom-made portfolio. - From a European private collection, acquired from the Texas rare book dealer John Holmes Jenkins (1940-89) in the 1970s.…