FRENCH, CIRCA 1880

In 1872 a group of amateurs and early students of aeronautics formed La Société Française de Navigation aérienne; many of their designs can be seen in the Tableau d'Aviation. Interest in non-balloon based aviation may have increased after the siege of Paris in 1870 when several people fled the city in balloons, but were dependent on the winds to direct them. It is not just the science of aerodynamics that was of interest to the group, but also the history of artificial flight--a trait shared with Gerard's publication of 1784 (see lot 132). While Gerard's flying machine is included in the tableau, by the turn of the century it is forgotten from the French histories of flight (probably due to the rarity of the pamphlet). The following four models inspired by the Tableau certainly stem from the early intellectual movement concerned with both the practical and historical aspects of artificial flight.