SIRCOS (Alfred) - PALLIER (Th.). - Lot 102

SIRCOS (Alfred) - PALLIER (Th.). Histoire des ballons et des ascensions célèbres. Paris : F. Roy, 1876. -In-4, red half-chagrin, ornate spine, red edges (publisher's binding). First edition with a preface by Nadar. "The authors have brought together in this work all the accounts of ascents and descriptions of projects found in Dupuis-Delcourt's "Manuel de l'aérostation"; Figuier's "Histoire des ballons"; Flammarion's "Ballons"; they have added a series of accounts collected from the newspapers and brochures of the time, notably a little-known account of some of Carnesin's ascents, and a very complete history of Blanchard's travels up to his death in 1809. (...) The authors have borrowed the account of contemporary ascents from the "Mémoires du Géant", the "Voyages aériens", the "Nature" collection, and various little-known publications worthy of mention, principally in the chapter devoted to aerostatic mail, the poignant story of the fall and captivity, in Germany, of Léopold Verrecke" ("Les Mondes, revue hebdomadaire des sciences", vol. 39, 1876, p. 427). The edition is adorned with numerous illustrations in the text, many of them woodcuts based on compositions by Albert Tissandier (1839-1906), a draughtsman, aeronaut and world traveler. Together with his brother Gaston, inventor of the first electrically-powered airship, he made over 44 ascents, including 4 during the Siege of Paris. A well-preserved copy in the publisher's binding. Enclosed: - a L.A.S. from aeronaut Gaston Tissandier (1843-1899), 2 pages in-12, on the letterhead of the magazine "La Nature", Paris March 13, 1896, to a lady, concerning the health of his daughter Hélène, - a L.A.S. from Henri Giffard (1825-1882), engineer at the École Centrale, inventor of the injector and the steam-powered balloon, one page in-16, addressed to a certain Achille, whom he asked if he had "Rachel's Journey to America" by Beauvallet.