FAUJAS DE SAINT-FOND. Description des Experiences de la Machine Aerostatique de MM. de Montgolfier... Paris, 1783, 1784. FIRST EDITION.

2 volumes, 8vo (194 x 122 mm). 2 engraved frontispieces, 12 engraved plates. Contemporary French mottled calf gilt, green calf lettering-pieces gilt; half blue morocco folding case. Provenance: Tesson (armorial bookplate). FIRST EDITION, second issue, with the four-page supplement. "THE FIRST SERIOUS TREATISE ON AEROSTATION AS A PRACTICAL POSSIBILITY" (PMM). The year 1783 marks the beginning of the history of flight, and the present work offers THE FIRST CONTEMPORARY CHRONICLE OF THE FIRST AERIAL VOYAGE. In June of 1783, the Montgolfier brothers successfully launched a balloon over Annonay. This feat was surpassed in September when they sent up another balloon, but this time it was carrying a sheep, a cock and a duck. Even more sensational was the flight of November 21, in which Pilatre de Rozier, accompanied by the Marquis d'Arlandes, made the first aerial voyage in history. This famous flight began at the Chateau de la Muette in the Bois de Bologne, and lasted for twenty-five minutes, during which time they flew for five and a half miles across Paris and landed safely in the outskirts of the city. The experiment, which was witnessed by the Dauphin and Benjamin Franklin, was an event of the highest importance. The second volume describes the two-hour flight made by J. A. C. Charles in a hydrogen balloon of his own invention on December 1, 1783. It also contains descriptions of other flights in 1784 by Gerli & Andreani, J. de Montgolfier, Blanchard, and Morveau & Bertrand. The main features of modern balloon technology can be directly attributed to the design of this eminent scientist. All of these events are described in detail in these volumes. A SUPERB SET. Brockett 4376, 4378; Dibner Heralds of Science 179; PMM 229; Norman 769; Sparrow Milestones of Science 179; Tissandier 21.