NADAR: (1820-1910) ´ we have just enough time......for the preparations for this ascent´

NADAR: (1820-1910) ´ we have just enough time......for the preparations for this ascent´

NADAR: (1820-1910) Gaspard-Felix Tournachon. French balloonist, photographer and caricaturist, the first person to take aerial photographs (1858). A good A.L.S., Nadar, two pages, 4to, Paris, 18th May 1865, to Monsieur le Senateur, Préfet du Rhone, on the printed stationery of the Societe d´Encouragement pour la Locomotion Aérienne, in French. Nadar commences his letter stating ´Veuillez me permettre de me reclamer de léxcellente volonté que vous m´avez bien voulu temoigner pour vous rappeler la reponse qui devait m´etre adressée sous 48 heures pour l´ascension du Géant au lundi de la Pentecote´ (Translation: ´Please allow me to take advantage of the excellent willingness you have shown me to remind you of the reply that was to be sent to me within 48 hours for the ascent of the Géant on Whit Monday´) and continues ´Il serait regrettable que ce jour de fête fût perdu, lorsque j´avais cru pouvoir le réserver a la ville de Lyon avant notre depart pour Londres, les jours fuyant vite dans la saison des ascenssions, et j´espere encore que vous apprecierez que cette perte ne serait pas seulement ici pour les interets du Géant´ (Translation: ´It would be regrettable if this day of celebration were to be lost, when I had thought I could reserve it for the city of Lyon before our departure for London, as the days pass quickly in the season of ascents, and I still hope that you will appreciate that this loss would not only be in the interests of the Géant´), further explaining ´J´ai eu l´honneur de vous adresser, selon vos instructions, une lettre contenant l´exposé des propositions verbales que je vous avais soumiser dans le double interet des ouvriers Lyonnais sans travail et de la Societe d´encouragement que j´ai fondee´ (Translation: ´I had the honour of sending you, in accordance with your instructions, a letter containing the verbal proposals which I had submitted to you in the dual interest of the unemployed workers of Lyon and the Société d'Encouragement which I founded´) and also remarking ´Je vous prie donc, Monsieur le Préfet, de vouloir bien mettre fin a une attente dont la prolongation serait trop prejudiciable, vous le comprendrez bien vite. Il nous reste aujourd´hui bien juste le temps d´arriver pour les preparatifs de cette ascenssion a l´époque indiquée, et je crois qu´il serait facheux de laisser perdre ce jour de loisir pour les populations´ (Translation: ´I would therefore ask you, Monsieur le Préfet, to kindly put an end to a wait, the prolongation of which would be too prejudicial, as you will soon understand. Today we have just enough time to arrive for the preparations for this ascent at the time indicated, and I think it would be unfortunate to let this day of leisure be lost for the people´). With blank integral leaf. A couple of contemporary ink annotations in different hands appear to the head of the first page. Some light creasing and minor age wear, about VG

Nadar´s huge balloon, Le Géant (´The Giant´) was first launched in Paris on 4th October 1863. Fascinated, and in awe of its amazing enormity, Jules Verne (whose name appears on the printed letterhead of the present letter as a member of the Conseil d´Administration) used Le Géant as a source of inspiration for his adventure novel Five Weeks in a Balloon. Nadar did get to ascend in the balloon at Lyon, but not until the July of 1865. His last ascent was from Les Invalides in June 1867, by which time Le Géant was able to take as many as a dozen passengers aloft at once, serving cold chicken and wine.