BALLOONING - NADAR.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Four ephemeral publications concerning his visit to Brussels with Le Géant. Scarce material capturing the excitement generated by the launch of Le Géant, 6,000 cubic metres in size and equipped with a huge cabin, to celebrate Belgian National Day. As much a publicist as an aviator, Nadar turned the event into an epic spectacle, the crowds teeming behind barriers. He shared a passion for the skies with Jules Verne, who drew on Nadar's exploits for his writings.Born Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, Nadar (1820-1910) was also a pioneering photographer, taking some of the earliest aerial shots of Paris. Le Géant was commissioned from the balloonist Eugène Goddard in 1863 and was first launched in Paris in October of the same year in front of 80,000 people. A second launch drew half a million people, setting the stage for the scenes in Brussels. Among those struck by the sight was Jules Verne, who had established Societe d'aviation with Nadar in 1862. Verne based Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863) on Le Géant, and Nadar appeared as the character Michael Ardan in Verne's From the Earth to the Moon (1865).The publications give information on the balloonist's background and his visit, their excitable tone sometimes crossing over into satire.a) Le Ballon Le Géant et Nadar, Pérégrinations, Accidents, Notices biographiques, etc. etc. Brussels: P. J. Leemans, [1864]. 8 pp., original illustrated wrappers.b) Nadar et le Ballon Le Géant. Saint Josse-ten-Noode: Renaut-Ledeganck, [c.1864]. 8 pp., origin

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