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 MANUEL  du  CERF-VOLISTE  

 

Author Joseph Lecornu, published in 1913, Librairie aéronautique, Paris

In French. The translation of the title is: " Kiter's manual"

 

This opuscule is not usually described by the kite historians and thus it is not well known. Before I got it I had no idea of what it would be. The foreword explains the intention of the author.

 

It is divided in four parts:

Aerodynamic; Kite theory / Practical information; Construction; Operations; Kite applications. These parts are then divided in many chapters.

The surprise is that almost half the contents are a reference guide on mathematics, geometry, physics. Lecornu was an engineer and he put here datas that would need a kite designer, a kite maker and a kiter. The pages on conversion units will interest the historians when reading historic documents. It will also interest those looking for datas when dealing with kite design and construction.

The kite theory is a good digest. The other parts provide good informations on what was the state of the art of kite at the beginning of the XXth century.

Kite train / ascensions and kite aerial photography subjects are some valuable complements to those dealing with these topics.

 

Really, I don't know how to define this booklet. Is it not entirely a manual or a user's guide. It is partly a kind of initiation to those who would not read the more complete author's book Les Cerfs-volants published earlier. But in fact, this booklet provides valuable supplementary informations to the previous work.