8vo (220 x 133 mm). 4 engraved plates (3 folding). (A little dust-soiled, but otherwise fine.) Modern brown half calf, marbled boards, entirely uncut. FIRST EDITION of this very rare work on balloon construction and gas production by one of France's most prominent scientists. It contains the first description of a directed balloon flight and led to the French government's formation of the corps d'arostatiers militaires in 1794. Guyton led the venture by the Dijon Academy into lighter-than-air flight and made 2 ascents in a hydrogen balloon in the spring of 1784. This work provides "full accounts of the preliminary calculations and experiments, as well as descriptions of the construction of the balloon and the large-scale production of gas an important treatise that added to Guyton's international reputation" (DSB V, 602). Brockett 8792.