La navigation aérienne en Chine. Relation d’un voyage accompli en 1860 entre Foutcheou et Nant-Chang par Delaville-Dedreux

8vo (183x116 mm). 71, 3 (catalogue of the bookseller Desloges) pp. Half-title, wood-engraved plate depicting a fantastical Chinese-style balloon, some foxing and staining, partly unopened, original printed wrappers.

Rare first edition of this curious work in which the author expounds his ideas on airships by way of an imaginary balloon voyage to China. Mareschal begins by citing the claim that a balloon was launched at Peking in 1306, enabling him to propose that aerial navigation in China had achieved a state of perfection that was unknown in Europe. The narrative that follows, partly in the form of a dialogue with the author’s fellow balloonist, Kié-Fo, allows Mareschal to make various observations on aeronautics at a time of considerable development in airship technology: only a few years after Henri Giffard’s pioneering engine-powered flight of 1852. There is also a notably early suggestion that the North Pole could be reached by aerostat, which would entail a journey of about 600 miles each way and which, given favourable winds, could be covered in two days.