LUNARDI, Vincent, Esq., Secretary to the Neapolitan Ambassador

An Account of the First Aerial Voyage in England in a Series of Letters to his Guardian, Chevalier Gherardo Campagni, Written under the Impressions of the various Events that affected the Undertaking

Second edition, published the same year as the first. Contemporary full red morocco, ruled and titled in gilt, all edges gilt. 66 (ii) pp. Frontispiece engraved portrait of the author by Bartolozzi, two folding plates: "The English Balloon and appendages..." and "Apparatus for filling Mr. Lunardi's balloon." Two leaves (pp.51-54) supplied in a felicitously rendered facsimile (curiously, this is an appendix containing a letter to Lunardi from a W. Baker, possibly a relative or connection of the original owner). Light foxing in the text, contemporary bookplate of Robert George Baker, 1894 ownership signature of Sir Robert Baden-Powell. Additionally this copy is Signed by the author ("R. Lunardi") on the half-title. Baden-Powell, in addition to founding the Boy Scouts, was a British Army general who used balloons for surveillance in Africa, particularly in Bechuanaland and the Sudan, and was later secretary of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Rare signed. A beautiful copy with an interesting provenance.

[BTC #46037]