aerial photo

This volume tells the story of three French Army officers' balloon expedition through the Peking (Beijing) and Tientsin (Tianjin) areas of China, in 1900 and 1901. Published in 1902, the book includes 41 photographic plates of aerial images of that region of Imperial China, as well as many extraordinary sights on the ground. This rare volume (only 25 copies were printed) is part of the William A. M. Burden aviation book collection donated to the Smithsonian, one of the foundations of the rare book collection in the National Air and Space Museum Library.