French Aeroplanes Before the Great War is a catalog of the aeroplanes of the nearly 700 French builders who worked before the onset of World War I. Most of these aeroplanes flew - some did not - some were never even finished - but all of them reflect the extraordinary vitality and sense of optimism that powered the aeronautical world before the future of the aeroplane began to become clearer in wartime. If the Wrights had not flown in 1903, one of the early French builders would very quickly have won the laurels for the first flight. Some of the machines appear in these pages probably for the first time in print; others are rarely seen. This collection serves as a kind of super Exposition Internationale de Locomotion Aerienne; readers are invited to enter the Grand Palais, as they might have in 1908 or 1909, to enjoy these marvelous aircraft.

Written by Baldasar Castiglione, count of Novilara and an Italian courtier himself, "The Book of the Courtier" remains as one of the most important and definitive accounts of Renaissance court life. Organized as a series of fictional conversations that occur between the courtiers of the Duke of Urbino in 1507, "The Book of the Courtier" discusses the expectations of a courtier who must have a warrior spirit, be athletic, and have good knowledge of the humanities, classics and fine arts. As the members of the court try to describe the perfect gentleman of the court over the course of four evenings they engage in a debate over the nature of nobility, humor, women, and love in the age of the Italian Renaissance. The English translation of Leonard E. Opdycke of this important historical writing is presented here in this edition of "The Book of the Courtier."