Flammarion camille

1912 · 179646 — Juvisy-sur-Orge & Paris: 1912. An exact scientific description in the form of a fantasy An unpublished nine-page article that deftly displays the astronomer and spiritualist's distinctive blend of fact and fiction when writing about his favourite subject: Mars and the life thereon. It is accompanied by a skilled sketch by Flammarion of Mars as seen from his private observatory and two autograph letters signed from him to the commissioning editor of the piece. Alongside H. G. Wells Percival Lowell and Giovanni Schiaparelli Flammarion 1842-1925 championed the "Mars mania" of the 1890s. Having made his name as a public lecturer and scientific popularizer Flammarion founded the Société astronomique de France and established an observatory at Juvisy-sur-Orge which "became something of a nerve centre for Martian research" Sheehan p. 169. He cemented his authority with La planète Mars et ses conditions d'habitabilité a copiously illustrated two-volume encyclopaedia 1892 & 1909. It was the most comprehensive book on the subject to date and enjoyed phenomenal success. Like Lowell Flammarion "was as devout about parapsychology as he was about Mars and the two subjects often commingled" in his writings Crossley p. 130. He wrote prolifically on Mars for books magazines and newspapers for academic and lay audiences and often on commission. This article is a pertinent example of the latter and appears to be unpublished in its present form. In the first letter dated 25 June 1912 Flammarion tells the unnamed recipient that he is in Paris "on the point of starting the article which you requested on the subject of 'Life on Mars'" our translation but has mislaid the details of its proposed length. The second letter dated 9 August sees Flammarion provide a brief outline: "In keeping with your wishes I imagined an exact scientific description in the form of a fantasy Psychical Voyage which consists of all we know about the neighbouring world geography duration of diurnal rotations atmosphere seasons polar snows vegetation scenery weight size of the Sun seen from Mars the Earth seen from Mars the 2 satellites the long years. A more advanced form of humanity seems to be the natural consequence. Should you want to illustrate this description by a drawing I will direct you to the correspondent at my observatory". Flammarion eventually provided this illustration himself for a delicate pencil drawing captioned "Drawing of the planet Mars taken by Mr Flammarion at his observatory at Juvisy" is also present. Below the sketch which shows ice caps and a Martian canal network are instructions in his hand: "Put a square black background to enhance the planet. The upper white mark should be white: it is snow. It is important to maintain the differences in tone". This emulates the reproduction of his drawings in La planète Mars. The manuscript intertwines passages of careful scientific observation with fantastical narrative segments of almost lyrical quality. Most pages show some light revision by Flammarion ranging from crossings out and word substitutions to the interpolation of a line of text. Flammarion the narrator begins by viewing Mars through a telescope on an autumn afternoon noting that polar snows cover vast areas of the surface and commenting on its canals seas and vegetation. In a particularly evocative section on pages 2 to 3 Flammarion describes his speculations being disturbed by the loud buzzing of an aeroplane "an immense dragonfly fleeing at a great height" to its hangar in Juvisy our translation. He likens his thoughts to the machine: "Suddenly it seemed as though my thought itself flew and was going faster than the aeroplane whilst my limbs went numb. Disengaged from my body it travelled through space with fantastic rapidity like a system of psychical waves unknown to terrestrial science". Flammarion is thrown into an out-of-body experience which transports him to Mars. Several pages are dedicated to analysing the Martian landscape and its two moons Phobos and Deimas. Flammarion marvels that he can do so while other astronomers such as Flagstaff and Lowell "with whom I have often discussed the Martian enigma" p. 6 remain below. A voice disturbs his reverie literally bringing him back down to Earth. He laments his mind's inability to recall the details of his experience and ends by speculating about life on Mars no doubt superior in intellect and lifespan to that on Earth. He ends: "I greeted from the bottom of my heart these unknown brothers of whom I had been for a moment the invisible guest" p. 9. Together 4 items in French. Autograph manuscript approximately 2000 words: 9 sheets of Observatoire Flammarion letterhead 216 x 136 mm numbered and written on verso in black ink signed on final page. Sketch of Mars: single sheet of plain paper 170 x 110 mm drawn and written on recto in pencil. First autograph letter signed Paris 25 Jun. 1912: bifolium folded to 215 x 136 mm of Société astronomique de France letterhead written one side in black ink. Second autograph letter signed Paris 9 Aug. 1912: bifolium folded to 216 x 134 mm of Observatoire Flammarion letterhead written both sides in black ink. Faintly creased from folding otherwise in near-fine or fine condition. Robert Crossley Imagining Mars: A Literary History 2011; William Sheehan Planets and Perception: Telescopic Views and Interpretations 1609-1909 2014. unknown