| Item Description: | In 1737, French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson (1709-1782) constructed a life-sized automaton known as the Flute Player, which established him as a pioneer in the field. It was swiftly followed by a Tambourine Player and the Digesting Duck. Vaucanson's endeavors in matters of industrial automation are largely forgotten, but the ingenious toys he built in order to advertize his skills, have become legendary. His story inspired writers of speculative fiction fascinated by the idea of humanoid automata. The idea of machines successfully mimicking human form, and perhaps human emotions. By the time most of the 14 stories included in this anthology were written, in the latter part of the 19th century, Vaucanson's legacy was evident everywhere, with small clockwork automata being mass-produced. But the French authors who produced stories of automata invariably referenced Vaucanson in their flights of fancy. |
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