Anonymous, France, ca. 1875 Portrait of Armand... Lot 24

Anonymous, France, ca. 1875 Portrait of Armand Auguste Petit in the basket of his balloon [Aérostation]. Albumen print, business card size, mounted on cardboard and bearing on the back a long and edifying commentary "Le Mans, M. Petit acraunaute [sic] departed from the Place des Jacobins (Quinconces) on Sunday, July 4, 1880, he in his balloon and his son in another one, both tied by a string. His wife had gone up for the first time with him to a height of 500 meters. His balloon burst or we saw it descend with frightening speed and fall on the road to Paris 2 kilometers from Le Mans where it broke and his wife only bruised. He died only on July 7, 1880. The accident seems to have made the chronicle of the winter facts of the time, its narration going until the United States of America Card: H. 10,3 cm - L. 6 cm