Pioneer Italian aviator (1752–1812) who dedicated himself to balloon flight . Rare ALS in Italian, signed “Francesco,” one page, 7.25 x 9.25, December 8, 1788. Letter to his father, Senator Giuseppe Zambeccari, from prison in Turkey. Zambeccari had left St. Petersburg in 1787 but his boat was taken by the Turks and he remained imprisoned in Turkey for over two years, owing his liberty to the intercession of the King of Spain. He complains at length about lost letters, and of a close friend who has been guilty of being an impostor and telling lies. Nevertheless he asks his father to receive the friend as cordially as possible if he were to call upon him. The young aeronaut, who had flown three years earlier, is desperate: “All hopes of peace are vanishing. And I cannot keep my spirits high when I think of everything that I have lost, that I lose and will loose. If there is any mean to get my liberty I beg you to try it and not to abandon me...” Central horizontal fold, some scattered creases, mild toning, and a couple small pencil notations, otherwise fine condition. RRAuction COA.
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