Sale Price:
£850.00
Original Price:
£950.00
1784 1st Edition
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST AERIAL VOYAGE IN ENGLAND
A signed first edition of one of the landmark books in the history of British aviation, published in 1784 following Vincenzo Lunardi’s celebrated ascent from the Artillery Ground, Moorfields, on 15 September of that year — the first successful balloon flight in England.
Written as a series of letters to Lunardi’s guardian, Chevalier Gherardo Compagni, the work combines personal narrative, contemporary reports and technical illustration to record the preparations, difficulties and public excitement surrounding the flight, together with Lunardi’s own account of the voyage.
This copy is signed “V. Lunardi” on the half-title and retains the large folding engraved plate depicting the apparatus used for filling M. Lunardi’s balloon. The second folding plate, depicting “The English Balloon and Appendages”, is not present. The terminal leaf containing the explanation of the plates, with publisher’s advertisement to the verso, is also wanting.
No portrait of Lunardi is present. First-edition copies are known in an issue without the portrait, and its absence should therefore not necessarily be regarded as evidence of loss. A documented first-edition example issued without the portrait is recorded with the same [4], 66, [2] collation and two folding plates.
Presented in an attractive later half-leather binding over cloth boards, with gilt decoration and black gilt-lettered spine labels, together with striking blue marbled endpapers. A handsome and highly displayable, though bibliographically incomplete, signed copy of an important eighteenth-century aeronautical work.
By Lunardi Vincent
Format: Hardcover, duodecimo or twelvemo (12mo 5 × 7 3⁄8 in 127 × 187 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Language: English
Published By: Printed for the author and sold at the Pantheon, J. Bell at the British Library and Mr Molini's, Woodstock Street, London
Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - Very Good overall in appearance; bibliographically incomplete. Later rebound in half leather over cloth boards, the spine with gilt decoration and black gilt-lettered labels. Blue marbled endpapers. Binding presents attractively and appears sound, with light rubbing and minor wear consistent with age and use.
Signed “V. Lunardi” on the half-title. Half-title shows pronounced offsetting from the adjacent folding engraving. Title page and text generally clean and well preserved for the period, with good margins, light general age-toning, occasional minor spotting and handling marks. Some faint old pencil marks/annotations are present towards the lower portion of p.66.
One large folding engraved plate is present, depicting the apparatus for filling M. Lunardi’s balloon. The engraving remains strong and detailed, with expected fold lines, some age-toning and offsetting.
The folding engraving “The English Balloon and Appendages in which Mr. Lunardi ascended into the Atmosphere from the Artillery Ground, September 15, 1784” is not present. This is one of the two folding plates called for in the standard first-edition collation.
The final original leaf following p.66 is also absent. Complete copies contain a final [2] leaf comprising the explanation of the plates with a publisher’s advertisement on the verso. Later binder’s blanks follow p.66 in this copy.
No engraved portrait of Lunardi is present. Some copies of the first edition contain a portrait; however, a recognised first-edition issue was published without it, and its absence in this copy cannot with certainty be regarded as a defect.
A visually attractive and well-preserved example of an important early aeronautical text, particularly desirable for Lunardi’s signature, but offered with the stated deficiencies.
Collation: [4], 66 pp. only; lacking final [2] leaf. One of two folding engraved plates present.
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
References:
ESTC T18821
Folger Shakespeare Library catalogue: [4], 66, [2] pp., plates; final leaf containing explanation of the plates.
Brockett 7816
Gamble 695
Liebmann-Wahl 1021
Tissandier, p.58
Hodgson, p.121
Science History Institute, digitised copy of the 1784 edition.
Author Bio: Vincenzo Lunardi was an Italian diplomat, soldier and pioneering aeronaut from Lucca who came to Britain as secretary to the Neapolitan ambassador, Prince Caramanico. He became one of the most celebrated figures of the early ballooning age following his ascent from London on 15 September 1784.
Lunardi subsequently made further balloon ascents in Britain and continental Europe and became an important populariser of aerostation during the extraordinary wave of public interest that followed the pioneering French balloon experiments of 1783. Sources differ over his precise year of birth, with 1754 and 1759 both appearing in the biographical literature; he died in Lisbon in 1806.
Synopsis: On 15 September 1784, Vincenzo Lunardi ascended in a hydrogen-filled balloon from the Artillery Ground at Moorfields, London. His voyage was the first balloon flight in England, following James Tytler’s pioneering ascent in Scotland only weeks earlier. Lunardi travelled approximately twenty-four miles into Hertfordshire, accompanied by a dog, a cat and a caged pigeon.
After descending briefly at North Mimms, Lunardi continued before finally landing near Ware at Standon Green End. The ascent caused a sensation and helped ignite the British public’s enthusiasm for ballooning. His balloon was subsequently displayed at the Pantheon in Oxford Street.
Published in the same year, An Account of the First Aërial Voyage in England preserves Lunardi’s own account of the undertaking through letters to his guardian, Gherardo Compagni, supplemented by contemporary material and technical engravings. It is one of the key primary documents of the formative years of manned flight and an important early work in the history of aeronautics.
SKU: BTETM0002380
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
1784 1st Edition
AN ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST AERIAL VOYAGE IN ENGLAND
A signed first edition of one of the landmark books in the history of British aviation, published in 1784 following Vincenzo Lunardi’s celebrated ascent from the Artillery Ground, Moorfields, on 15 September of that year — the first successful balloon flight in England.
Written as a series of letters to Lunardi’s guardian, Chevalier Gherardo Compagni, the work combines personal narrative, contemporary reports and technical illustration to record the preparations, difficulties and public excitement surrounding the flight, together with Lunardi’s own account of the voyage.
This copy is signed “V. Lunardi” on the half-title and retains the large folding engraved plate depicting the apparatus used for filling M. Lunardi’s balloon. The second folding plate, depicting “The English Balloon and Appendages”, is not present. The terminal leaf containing the explanation of the plates, with publisher’s advertisement to the verso, is also wanting.
No portrait of Lunardi is present. First-edition copies are known in an issue without the portrait, and its absence should therefore not necessarily be regarded as evidence of loss. A documented first-edition example issued without the portrait is recorded with the same [4], 66, [2] collation and two folding plates.
Presented in an attractive later half-leather binding over cloth boards, with gilt decoration and black gilt-lettered spine labels, together with striking blue marbled endpapers. A handsome and highly displayable, though bibliographically incomplete, signed copy of an important eighteenth-century aeronautical work.
By Lunardi Vincent
Format: Hardcover, duodecimo or twelvemo (12mo 5 × 7 3⁄8 in 127 × 187 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Language: English
Published By: Printed for the author and sold at the Pantheon, J. Bell at the British Library and Mr Molini's, Woodstock Street, London
Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - Very Good overall in appearance; bibliographically incomplete. Later rebound in half leather over cloth boards, the spine with gilt decoration and black gilt-lettered labels. Blue marbled endpapers. Binding presents attractively and appears sound, with light rubbing and minor wear consistent with age and use.
Signed “V. Lunardi” on the half-title. Half-title shows pronounced offsetting from the adjacent folding engraving. Title page and text generally clean and well preserved for the period, with good margins, light general age-toning, occasional minor spotting and handling marks. Some faint old pencil marks/annotations are present towards the lower portion of p.66.
One large folding engraved plate is present, depicting the apparatus for filling M. Lunardi’s balloon. The engraving remains strong and detailed, with expected fold lines, some age-toning and offsetting.
The folding engraving “The English Balloon and Appendages in which Mr. Lunardi ascended into the Atmosphere from the Artillery Ground, September 15, 1784” is not present. This is one of the two folding plates called for in the standard first-edition collation.
The final original leaf following p.66 is also absent. Complete copies contain a final [2] leaf comprising the explanation of the plates with a publisher’s advertisement on the verso. Later binder’s blanks follow p.66 in this copy.
No engraved portrait of Lunardi is present. Some copies of the first edition contain a portrait; however, a recognised first-edition issue was published without it, and its absence in this copy cannot with certainty be regarded as a defect.
A visually attractive and well-preserved example of an important early aeronautical text, particularly desirable for Lunardi’s signature, but offered with the stated deficiencies.
Collation: [4], 66 pp. only; lacking final [2] leaf. One of two folding engraved plates present.
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
References:
ESTC T18821
Folger Shakespeare Library catalogue: [4], 66, [2] pp., plates; final leaf containing explanation of the plates.
Brockett 7816
Gamble 695
Liebmann-Wahl 1021
Tissandier, p.58
Hodgson, p.121
Science History Institute, digitised copy of the 1784 edition.
Author Bio: Vincenzo Lunardi was an Italian diplomat, soldier and pioneering aeronaut from Lucca who came to Britain as secretary to the Neapolitan ambassador, Prince Caramanico. He became one of the most celebrated figures of the early ballooning age following his ascent from London on 15 September 1784.
Lunardi subsequently made further balloon ascents in Britain and continental Europe and became an important populariser of aerostation during the extraordinary wave of public interest that followed the pioneering French balloon experiments of 1783. Sources differ over his precise year of birth, with 1754 and 1759 both appearing in the biographical literature; he died in Lisbon in 1806.
Synopsis: On 15 September 1784, Vincenzo Lunardi ascended in a hydrogen-filled balloon from the Artillery Ground at Moorfields, London. His voyage was the first balloon flight in England, following James Tytler’s pioneering ascent in Scotland only weeks earlier. Lunardi travelled approximately twenty-four miles into Hertfordshire, accompanied by a dog, a cat and a caged pigeon.
After descending briefly at North Mimms, Lunardi continued before finally landing near Ware at Standon Green End. The ascent caused a sensation and helped ignite the British public’s enthusiasm for ballooning. His balloon was subsequently displayed at the Pantheon in Oxford Street.
Published in the same year, An Account of the First Aërial Voyage in England preserves Lunardi’s own account of the undertaking through letters to his guardian, Gherardo Compagni, supplemented by contemporary material and technical engravings. It is one of the key primary documents of the formative years of manned flight and an important early work in the history of aeronautics.
SKU: BTETM0002380
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
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