(Almanach des muses) — Almanach Des Muses 1783
A Paris, Chez Delalain, 1783. First edition. Full calf, gilt rules, all edges gilt. [8], 332 pp. 12mo. Almanach de Muses ran from 1765 to 1833. This issue is one of three that contains poems on Ballooning, all the rage in Europe at the time, especially with the Montgolfier brothers' 1783 demonstrations of hot-air-balloon flying in Annonay, France. This isssue includes a satiric poem advising Blanchard not to fly (p. 43-48). Blanchard being Jean Pierre Blanchard who on January 7, 1785, with Dr. John Jeffries, an American physician, made the first flight over the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France. Spine chipped including part of label, boards worn and chipped, front board nearly detached but still holding, scattered foxing; overall about good.
