The Romance of Ballooning : The Story of the Early Aeronauts

A Studio Book - Viking Press. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 1971. First Edition: First Printing. Hard Cover. 197 pages: 10.5 x 12.25 in.: 4.8: KB#017636: Bookjacket / dustjacket protected by a Mylar Cover. Boards and pages are clean, unmarked, bright, tightly bound and sharp cornered. Scarce, Out Of Print, Book. Scarce, Out Of Print, Book. "This book is about the realization of man's oldest dream- the conquest of the skies. The sensational discoveries of the Montgolfier brothers in 1783 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 speak with all the enthusiasm and wonder engendered by this new science when if first began to sweep the world. The stories are taken from eyewitness accounts, newspaper stories, reports to scientific bodies, from log-books, memoirs, 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." .