Details

Considérations sur le globe aérostatique, par M. D*****. Paris: Le Jay, 1783. 8o (190 x 125 mm.) Engraved folding frontispiece showing a balloon. 16 pages (occasional spotting, generally in good condition). Modern quarter calf. FIRST EDITION, with half titles. A ballooning incunable. The Montgolfier brothers began their experiments in June 1783. The present pamphlet suggests means for controlling altitude and direction which are keyed to the frontispiece showing a man in a "globe aérostatique." The approbation for this pamphlet is 17 September 1783, two days before the first successful ascent of a Montgolfier ballon carrying three farm animals. The first manned ascent occurred two months later.