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In the second section we find a number of Blanchard's narratives, including the account of the first aerial crossing of the Channel; we find Lunardi's Account of the First Aerial Voyage in England, London, 1784 (£7 10s.); several books on the Montgolfier brothers, as well as the works of the great Baron Munchausen, so famed for his aeronautical exploits.
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The third section of the catalogue deals with the evolution of aircraft from 1851 to 1899. An interesting item is the first edition of Rémy de Gourmont's En Ballon, Paris, 1883. A large number of works by Tissandier, author of the Bibliographie Aéronautique, Paris, 1887, naturally appear. We may here note the remarkable fact that by far the greater number of the volumes on flight are in French. British interest in the problem was not aroused till a good deal later, after the first practical difficulties had been solved. A first edition of Jules Verne's Robur le Conquérant, Paris, 1886, is included (15s.). His Six Weeks in a Balloon also deserves a place.
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In the fourth section we come to "Aeroplanes and Dirigibles in the Twentieth Century." The period opens with the intrepid Santos-Dumont and his flights and falls over Paris. His My Airships, London, 1904, is priced at 10s. The handsomest aeronautical work published during this period is perhaps La Conquête de l'Air, by Grand-Carteret and Delteil, a finely illustrated folio, offered at £3 3s.
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A fifth section contains pictures of famous balloon ascents, portraits of aeronauts, caricatures, and the like.
A. L. H.