FAUJAS DE SAINT-FOND, BARTHÉLEMY DE. Description des Expériences de la Machine Aérostatique de MM. de Montgolfier (vol. 2: Premiere suite de la Description...). Paris: [Chardon for] Cuchet, 1783-84. 2 vols., 8vo, 194 x 122 mm. (7 5/8 x4 13/16 in.), contemporary mottled calf, spines gilt, green morocco gilt title and volume labels, edges red-sprinkled, original silk ribbon markers, corners bumped, upper fore-corner of vol. 1 chipped, offsetting from vol. 1 frontispiece to title-page, border-rule on fol. 1:G2 shaved, occasional slight marginal staining . FIRST EDITION, second issue of the first volume, with the four-page Supplement at end, 14 engraved plates including the two frontispieces, most by N. Launay after Charles de Lorimer, folding letterpress table in vol. 1, woodcut head- and tail-piece ornaments and vignettes. Dibner Heralds of Science 179; Norman 769; PMM 229. "THE FIRST SERIOUS TREATISE ON AEROSTATION AS A PRACTICAL POSSIBILITY" ( Printing and the Mind of Man ), a detailed historical and technical account of the first balloon flights carried out in 1783 by the brothers Etienne and Joseph de Montgolfier, written by one of their principal sponsors, the geologist Faujas de Saint-Fond. The first successful balloon ascent took place in Annonay on June 5, 1783 using the Montgolfiers' technique of heating air with a straw fire sufficiently to make the balloons rise. Although subscribers preferred the hydrogen balloons invented by the physicist Jacques-A.-C. Charles, whose first launch was a 13-foot balloon from the Champ-de-Mars in August 1783, the Montgolfiers created a sensation by sending up ever more populated hot-air balloons; a trio of farm animals were the first mammals to fly, on September 19, and the first manned ascent followed two months later, on November 20, when Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes ascended from the Bois de Boulogne and crossed Paris, covering a total distance of 5 1/2 miles in approximately 20 minutes. (Rozier was later killed in an attempted balloon crossing of the English Channel.) The second volume contains accounts of later balloon flights, all inspired by the Montgolfiers' initial successes -- "their experiments were so successful, and so decisive, that it is inarguably to them that we owe all of the experiments that followed" (vol. 2, pp. 1-2) -- including the first flight of a passenger-carrying hydrogen balloon, designed and manned by Jacques Charles who on December 1, 1783 made a two-hour ascent from Paris, landing near a village 27 miles distant (this trip was also largely underwritten by Faujas de Saint-Fond). Charles's hydrogen balloon, constructed with the aid of the celebrated artisans the Robert brothers, formed the prototype for later modern balloon construction. Provenance : Tesson, engraved armorial bookplate. (2)
FAUJAS DE SAINT-FOND, BARTHÉLEMY DE. Description des Expériences de la Machine Aérostatique de MM. de Montgolfier (vol. 2: Premiere suite de la Description...). Paris: [Chardon for] Cuchet, 1783-84. 2 vols., 8vo, 194 x 122 mm. (7 5/8 x4 13/16 in.), contemporary mottled calf, spines gilt, green morocco gilt title and volume labels, edges red-sprinkled, original silk ribbon markers, corners bumped, upper fore-corner of vol. 1 chipped, offsetting from vol. 1 frontispiece to title-page, border-rule on fol. 1:G2 shaved, occasional slight marginal staining . FIRST EDITION, second issue of the first volume, with the four-page Supplement at end, 14 engraved plates including the two frontispieces, most by N. Launay after Charles de Lorimer, folding letterpress table in vol. 1, woodcut head- and tail-piece ornaments and vignettes. Dibner Heralds of Science 179; Norman 769; PMM 229. "THE FIRST SERIOUS TREATISE ON AEROSTATION AS A PRACTICAL POSSIBILITY" ( Printing and the Mind of Man ), a detailed historical and technical account of the first balloon flights carried out in 1783 by the brothers Etienne and Joseph de Montgolfier, written by one of their principal sponsors, the geologist Faujas de Saint-Fond. The first successful balloon ascent took place in Annonay on June 5, 1783 using the Montgolfiers' technique of heating air with a straw fire sufficiently to make the balloons rise. Although subscribers preferred the hydrogen balloons invented by the physicist Jacques-A.-C. Charles, whose first launch was a 13-foot balloon from the Champ-de-Mars in August 1783, the Montgolfiers created a sensation by sending up ever more populated hot-air balloons; a trio of farm animals were the first mammals to fly, on September 19, and the first manned ascent followed two months later, on November 20, when Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes ascended from the Bois de Boulogne and crossed Paris, covering a total distance of 5 1/2 miles in approximately 20 minutes. (Rozier was later killed in an attempted balloon crossing of the English Channel.) The second volume contains accounts of later balloon flights, all inspired by the Montgolfiers' initial successes -- "their experiments were so successful, and so decisive, that it is inarguably to them that we owe all of the experiments that followed" (vol. 2, pp. 1-2) -- including the first flight of a passenger-carrying hydrogen balloon, designed and manned by Jacques Charles who on December 1, 1783 made a two-hour ascent from Paris, landing near a village 27 miles distant (this trip was also largely underwritten by Faujas de Saint-Fond). Charles's hydrogen balloon, constructed with the aid of the celebrated artisans the Robert brothers, formed the prototype for later modern balloon construction. Provenance : Tesson, engraved armorial bookplate. (2)
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
