The Romance of Ballooning: The Story of the Early Aeronauts

First edition (1971) copy of The Romance of Ballooning: The Story of the Early Aeronauts produced by EDITA S.A. Lausanne

Hardcover with dust jacket.

This book is abut the realization of man's oldest dream—the conquest of the skies. The sensational discoveries of the Montgolfer brothers in 1738 pointed the way to the great adventure of the free balloon. From then on the romantic story of the "lighter-than-air" machines has been told in the words of those who made them, who flew in them, or who watched them drift through the skies. Indeed these pioneers are the authors of this book, and they soeak with all the enthusiasm and wonder engendered by this new science when it first began to sweep the world. 

The stories are taken from eyewitness accounts, newspaper stories, reports to scientific bodies, from log-books, memories, and letters. Eighteenth-century engravers, watercolourists, painters, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographers all contribute a wealth of dramatic illustration, much of which has never been published before. 

The reader experiences the excitements of the pioneers and the dangers of the first ascents as they happen. From the pages of France's contemporary newspapers, the Journal de Paris and the Mercure de France of 1783-1785, reports of the first ascents are reprinted. Joseph and Etienne Montgolfer tell us of their first experiments with a paper glibe filled with hot hair. We watch as Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes, the first aeronauts in hsitpry, rise to a height of 3150 feet on board a balloon made of paper and cloth. Keeping the air hot with a fire hanging below their "aerostatic machine," these fearless men made a flight of nearly seven miles. We also cross the English Channel with Jean-Pierre Blanchard and Dr J. Jeffries in 1785. Theirs was a bold, even rash, exploit; braving the wind and wave, they actually set out to fly from Dover to Calais. Te plaudits of the enthusiastic masses went with the,, for all Eurpe was greatly excited as the new "balloon craze" came into being. 

Fashions, the theatre, games, furniture and calendars paid homage to the astonishing inventions of M. Montgolfer. However, mocking poems and satirical ballads were to greet their failures, and many a rash aeronaut was glad to escape with his life from the fury of crowds who considered themselves to have been duped. Fantastic ides burgeoned in this hot-house atmosphere. There were dreams of flying towns and aerial batteries of guns, and other ideas from science fiction. 

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the general enthusiasm for balloons lessened. The balloonist became an entertainer and his balloon the attraction of the fair and the circus. But at the same time the scientist made it his tool. Gay-Lussac, Bixio and Barral, Glaisher and Coxwell all risked their loves to bring back information from the heights to which they managed to ascend. Croce-Spinelli and Sivel died in their attempt, and Salomon Andree lost his life on his expedition to fly over the Pole. The yellowing photographs and the fading pages of Andree's log-book, miraculously preserved for thirty years in the ice, are tragic witnesses to an undertaking that was doomed from the start. 

Later on, balloons, overtaken by aeroplanes and rockets, passed gently from the epoch of pioneers and adventurers, and entered the realm of the poet. From their baskets. twentieth-century aeronauts discovered their countries anew, or photographed African wildlife, or wandered over the high peaks of the Alps. 

The last chapter of this book contains practical information about balloons. Fred Dolder, veteran balloon pilot, explains the construction of a modern balloon and the technique of flying with it. Thus the amazing history of balloons is completed with words of useful advise. 

The story of the free balloon is exciting, dramatic, odd, and poetic. In these days of hustle and noise, this book recaptures the peach and silence the colour and the wonder, of this ethereal enlargement of man's horizon. 

Edition/Year: first edition, 1971, The Viking Book

Condition: good condition.

Dimensions: 12" x 10.5"