Around 1782, the Montgolfier brothers became among the first to develop the European hot-air balloon, or globe aérostatique, as they called it. As they came from a family of paper manufacturers in southern France, the brothers used materials like paper and taffeta in their early experiments to create the large pockets for hot air. This drawing by Boilly captures the expressions and personalities of the two brothers. Joseph, the elder and purportedly shier sibling, is portrayed behind the outgoing Étienne.

Noé, bishop of Lescar, delivered this speech to the King’s Dragoons, an elite group of Louis XVI’s troops, after they had just returned from America. In September 1781, the dragoons aided George Washington’s army at the Battle of the Chesapeake, a critical turning point in the American Revolution that sealed the British general Charles Cornwallis’s defeat at Yorktown. This copy was bound for Noé’s nephew, Louis Charles de la Baig, who was the French unit’s
second-in-command under General Lafayette. The decorative elements in the dentelle commemorate the victorious dragoons, while a glorified France is literally placed on a pedestal.

The Montgolfier brothers’ experiments with hot-air balloons quickly drew the attention of the king. On 19 September 1783, they performed the first-ever flight at Versailles, sending up several farm animals as passengers. That October, Étienne became the first human test pilot, in a balloon decorated with Louis XVI’s face and monogram (see image at right). These two bindings commemorate that ascent, replacing Louis’s initials with those of Marie-Antoinette. The Montgolfier balloon made such an impact that the balloon globe became a visual element in all types of decorative arts and home accessories.

Colbert was minister of the navy under Louis XIV, a position he gained from his father, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683), an influential secretary of state known as Le Grand Colbert. The younger Colbert inherited his father’s extensive library of over twenty thousand volumes. Although he was not too interested in expanding the collection, this volume is one of several that can be directly tied thim. Tachard, a Jesuit missionary and mathematician, wrote Voyage to Siam after several trips to the region (modern-day Thailand) as a French envoy; of interest to Colbert may have been the account’s firsthand insight into a place where France had imperialist aims.

The Bourbon line of the French monarchy began with Henri IV, Louis XIV’s grandfather, who was descended from the youngest son of Louis IX (St. Louis). The elaborate manuscript hymn honoring St. Louis at left—a presentation copy for Louis XIV—traces the familial connection to the saint and thereby underscores the Bourbons’ divine authority to rule.

At right is a volume of religious texts reissued annually for Holy Week (semaine sainte), the week before Easter. The engraved frontispiece
depicts Louis XV and Marie Leszczyńska in prayer before a vision of the Christian Trinity. Such illustrations helped printers to market their yearly editions in a competitive market.