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![(BALLOONING/AERONAUTICS). [A collection of 7 very rare single-sheet advertisements/broadsidesVictorian.]](/photos/377/main/377.jpg "(BALLOONING/AERONAUTICS). [A collection of 7 very rare single-sheet advertisements/broadsidesVictorian.]")
(GREEN, Charles.) Under the direct patronage of Her Majesty. Royal Gardens, Vauxhall. Grand Balloon Fete, by day, Friday, Aug. 25, 1837. The most Extraordinary Attraction! Ascent of the Royal Nassau Balloon! And of Mr. Green’s own Balloon at the same moment!... [London, n.p. 1837.] (350 × 106 mm), 2 wood-engraved illustrations, hand-coloured. Laid-down, lightly browned. 3. (HAMPTON, John.) Flora Gardens, Bayswater. Grand Parachute Descent! Monday, July 29, 1839, Mr Hampton The Unrivalled and Intrepid Aeronaut, will make his 18th ascent with his magnificent balloon, the “Albion”, and at an altitude of at least 10,000 feet from the earth, separate himself and apparatus from the balloon, and descend in his Royal Safety Parachute. [London:] Sayers, Marylebone Press, [1839.] (368 × 120 mm). Wood-engraved illustration, printed on yellow paper. Carefully laid to paper, a few minor stains, but otherwise very fresh 4. (GYPSON, Richard.) Grand Balloon Ascent! From the Yard of the Bedford Gas Company, Mr. Gypson will make his Sixteenth Ascent in his Magnificent Nocturnal Balloon, On Friday Afternoon Next, May the 1st, 1840... Bedford: Hill & Son, [1840.] (280 × 75 mm). Wood engraved illustration, printed on yellow paper. Traces of gum at corner, slightly browned, but very good. 5 (GYPSON, Richard.) Grand Balloon Ascent from the spacious premises of Mr. Smith’s Wharf Yard, East Gate, Sleaford. Mr Gypson [From the Royal Zoological Gardens, London.] Will make his 46th and last ascent this season on Thursday October 28th, 1841, at two for three precisely, with his Magnificent Silk Balloon... Sleaford [Lincs]: J. Creasy, [1841.] (285 × 114 mm). Wood engraved illustration. Browned. 6. (GREEN, Charles.) Cremorne Gardens, Chelsea... the first and only Benefit ever taken by Mr Green, the Aeronaut, will take place on Monday next Sept. 1st, 1845... mr green will ascend at half-past Five o’Clock, in the Great Nassau Balloon! [London:] S. G. Fairbrother, [1845]. (245 × 124 mm). Laid down. 7. (GREEN, Charles.) Royal Gardens Vauxhall... Tonight! Tuesday, Aug. 26th, Magnificent Fete and Gala In honour of the Birthday of H.R.H. Prince Albert... On which occasion will take place a Great Balloon Race by Celebrated Aeronauts... On Friday next, Aug. 29 First Night Balloon Ascent This Season, by the Veteran Green, In a splendidly Illuminated Balloon The Ascent to take place at 10 o’clock. [text also in French on verso]. [London:] S. G. Fairbrother, [n.d.] This delightful group of seven handbills illustrates the Victorian craze for Ballooning and charts ascents by some aeronautical pioneers. The earliest advertises an audacious and ill-fated aeronautical experiment. The Eagle was “an airship designed by the Comte de Lennox in 1834 to create a direct communication link between the capitals of Europe. The first aerial ship of its kind, it was exhibited in the grounds of the Aeronautical Society in Kensington, London. It measured 160 feet long, 50 feet high and 40 feet wide, with a capacity of 98,700 cubic feet. The ship was cylindrical with conical ends and had eight paddle-shaped flaps, four on either side, which were intended to be worked backwards and forwards manually by a series of cords and chains. However, the airship proved too heavy to lift its own weight and was destroyed by onlookers after a failed ascent from the Champ de Mars, Paris, on 17th August 1834” (Science Museum, Science and Society Picture Library online). Though several prints and pamphlets accompanied the exhibition of the Eagle, we can find no other record of this handbill advertising admission to the “Dock Yard” of the Society opposite Kensington Gardens. Three of the handbills here advertise ascents by Charles Green, the first person to make an ascent (in 1821) in a balloon filled with coal gas. In his long career he made numerous ascents and had several lucky escapes: one of these escapes being related in the 1845 “Benefit” sheet here. Another advertises (and depicts) a parachute descent by John Hampton in July 1839. The previous year he had become the first Englishman to make a succesful parachute jump, from around 9,000 feet. Two of the bills are provincial, from Bedord and Sleaford, and advertise balloon ascents by Richard Gypson, who toured Britain and the Europe with his balloon. All are rare. see full details...
