Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air

ill.1 Philippe Lesueur’s letter depicting the Montgolfier ascent from Versailles, with animal passengers, 22 September 1783. With the kind permission of the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum

ill.2 ‘The Perilous Situation of Major Money’ from Aeronautica Illustrata, 1785. © Derek Bayes/Lebrecht Music & Arts

ill.3 The Institut Royal de France portrait of Jacques Alexandre César Charles, by Bailly, 1820. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02185

ill.4 André Jacques Garnerin, drawn and engraved by Edward Hawke-Locker, from a sketch made on their aerial voyage, 5 July 1802. © Library of Congress/Science Photo Library

ill.5 Madame Blanchard, aeronaut, drawn by Jules Porreau. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-97340

ill.6 Madame Blanchard during the balloon flight in Milan in the presence Napoleon on 15 August 1811’, drawn by Luigi Rados. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02180

ill.7 ‘La Mort de Harris’, 1824. Early flight collecting card issued by Romanet & Cie, Paris, 1895. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02561

ill.8 Tiberius Cavallo, by unknown artist, oil on oak panel, c.1790. © National Portrait Gallery, London

ill.9 Charles Green, by Hilaire Ledru, oil on panel, 1835. © National Portrait Gallery, London

ill.10 ‘A Consultation Prior to the Aerial Voyage to Weilburgh, 1836’, by John Hollins, oil on canvas, c.1836–1838. © National Portrait Gallery, London

ill.11 Green, Holland, and Mason in the Royal Victoria balloon (subsequently the Nassau) at night over the iron foundries of Liège, 1836. From a sketch by Monck Mason, in Aeronautica, 1838. © Sheila Terry/Science Photo Library

ill.12 ‘Mr Charles Green, the Aeronaut’, painted by John Hollins, mezzotint by G.T. Payne, 1838. © National Library of Australia pic-an9548228

ill.13 Mary Shelley, by Samuel John Stump, 1830. © Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images. The identity of this image has not been confirmed by the National Portrait Gallery, London

ill.14 Jane Loudon, photograph reproduced in In Search of English Gardens: The Travels of John Claudius Loudon and his Wife Jane, edited by Priscilla Boniface (Lennard, Wheathampstead, 1987)

ill.16 Percy Bysshe Shelley, by Alfred Clint, after Amelia Curran, and Edward Ellerker Williams, oil on canvas, 1819. © National Portrait Gallery, London

ill.17 Charles Dickens, by anonymous artist, c.1835. © Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

ill.18 Henry Mayhew, engraving after a daguerreotype by Beard, from an edition of London Labour and the London Poor, c.1865. © Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

ill.19 Félix Nadar, Auto-portrait, c.1855. © The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

ill.20 ‘Mr Glaisher insensible at the height of seven miles’, engraving from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.21 ‘Paul takes off in the Leviathan’, from Les Aventures de Paul by Jean Bruno (Bernardin-Béchet, Paris, 1869). Illustration by J. Desandr, 1869. © Courtesy, The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

ill.22 ‘Le Ballon-Poste.’ Paris siege poster advertising a weekly ‘airmail’ newspaper, the Balloon Post, containing ‘a complete Journal of the week’s events, and two columns of Private Correspondance’ to be flown out by Ballon Monté (manned Balloon), for a subscription price of 20c. ‘This week’s edition of the Balloon Post gives clear and complete instructions on how to send and receive back Answer Postcards by which news and messages may be exchanged with all the departments of France.’ With the kind permission of Grosvenor Auctioneers and Valuers

ill.23 Le Ballon, by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, oil on panel, 1870. © Mondadori Electa/UIG/age footstock

ill.24 Major General George Custer, 1865. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-cwpbh-03216

ill.25 ‘Thaddeus Lowe and his Balloon’, by Mort Künstler, 1991. © Mort Künstler Inc, www.mkunstler.com

ill.26 ‘In one bound we pass through the thick layer of cloud’, woodcut from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.27 Albert (left) and Gaston Tissandier with their balloons Zénith (top left), Jean Bart (top right) and prototype airship below. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02274

ill.28 ‘Universum’, or ‘The Pilgrim’, engraving imitating a medieval woodcut by Camille Flammarion, 1888, coloured by Hugo Heikenwaelder, 1998. © With the kind permission of Hugo Heikenwaelder

ill.29 Camille Flammarion aged eighty-two, portrait photograph by Underwood & Underwood, 1924. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-116545

ill.30 Jules Verne, 1875 © Photo by Apic/Getty Images

ill.31 Victor Hugo, 1880s. © Photo by Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images

ill.32 James Glaisher, 1875. © Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

ill.33 H. G. Wells, photo by Reginald Haines c.1908. © Photo/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

ill.34 David Hempleman-Adams, courtesy of David Hempleman-Adams

ill.35 Ian McEwan. © Eamonn McCabe

ill.36 Left to right: Knut Fraenkel, Salomon Andrée and Nils Strindberg before the second polar expedition, by Gösta Flormans, 1897 © National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm

ill.38 Photograph of Dolly Shepherd, by A.E. Langdon, 1911. © IWM (Q 98454)

ill.40 Cover of the first edition of Le Voyage de Babar, 1932. © Librairie Hachette, 1932/Courtesy of Aleph-Bet Books

ill.41 Film tie-in paperback cover of Enduring Love (London, Vintage, 1997), 2004. © Random House

ill.42 The 2010 Albuquerque Fiesta, aerial photograph by Richard Holmes

ill.43 A cluster balloon flight, Jonathan Trappe, 2010. © Barcroft Media

ill.44 ‘The Perilous Situation of Major Money’, from Aeronautica Illustrata, 1785. © Derek Bayes/Lebrecht Music & Arts

ill.45 Nazca balloon flown in Peru by Julian Nott and Jim Woodman, 1975. © Photograph by Larry Dale Gordon

ill.46 The Wetzel and Strelzyk families re-enact their escape, 1979. German Press Agency

ill.47 Dr Jacques Alexandre César Charles receiving a wreath from Apollo, by E.A. Tilly. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02190

ill.48 ‘A Balloon Prospect from above the Clouds’, from Airopaedia by Thomas Baldwin, 1785. © Science Museum/Science & Society

ill.49 Philippe Lesueur’s letter depicting the Montgolfier ascent from Versailles, with animal passengers, 22 September 1783. With the kind permission of the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum

ill.50 George Biggins’s Ascent in Lunardi’s Balloon, 1784. © Science and Society Photo Library/Science Museum/Getty Images

ill.51 Engraving of Cyrano de Bergerac flying to the moon, from L’Histoire comique contenant les états et empires de la Lune, 1657

ill.52 Earthrise viewed from Apollo 8, 24 December 1968. © NASA

ill.53 ‘The Battle of the Balloons’, printed by Bowles & Carver, c.1784. © The Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library)/Mary Evans

ill.54 The Enterprise at the Battle of Fleurus, 1794. Early flight collecting card issued by Romanet & Cie, Paris, 1895. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02562

ill.55 ‘Invasion Plans’ featuring the Thilorière balloon, anonymous artist, reproduced in Le Directoire by Paul Lacroix, 1804. © Mary Evans Picture Library

ill.56 ‘Monsieur Garnerin’, drawn and engraved by Edward Hawke-Locker, from a sketch made on their aerial voyage, 5 July 1802. © Library of Congress/Science Photo Library

ill.57 ‘An exact representation of Monsieur Garnerin’s Balloons’, engraving by H. Merke. ©The Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library)/Mary Evans

ill.58 Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Jean-Baptiste Biot at 4,000-metre altitude, 1804. Early flight collecting card issued by Romanet & Cie, Paris, 1895. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02561

ill.59 Madame Blanchard, aeronaut, drawn by Jules Porreau. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-97340

ill.60 ‘Madame Blanchard during the balloon flight in Milan in the presence Napoleon on 15 August 1811’, drawn by Luigi Rados. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02180

ill.61 Death of Madame Blanchard, 1819. Early flight collecting card issued by Romanet & Cie, Paris, 1895. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02561

ill.62 Sophie Blanchard’s grave in Père-Lachaise Cemetery. © Gede

ill.63 Death of Harris, 1824. Early flight collecting card, issued by Romanet & Cie: Paris, 1895. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02561

ill.64 ‘A Scene in the Farce of Lofty Projects’, engraving by George Cruikshank after T. Greenwood, 1825. © Science and Society/SuperStock

ill.65 Charles Green, by Hilaire Ledru, oil on panel, 1835. © National Portrait Gallery, London

ill.66 Charles Green on horseback suspended from a balloon to advertise balloon ascensions in Vauxhall Gardens, c.1832. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-10454

ill.67 Poster for Charles Green’s ascent in the Nassau on 6 October 1840. © The Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library)/Mary Evans Picture Library

ill.67 Poster for a Grand Fête in honour of the Princess Victoria’s Birthday at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, c.1841. © The Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library)/Mary Evans

ill.68 Holland, Green and Mason in the Royal Victoria balloon (subsequently the Nassau) at night over the iron foundries of Liège, 1836, from a sketch by Monck Mason, in Aeronautica, 1838

ill.69 Cover of The Science Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe, 2006, from Odilon Redon, ‘The Eye like a strange Balloon mounts towards Eternity’, 1878. © Penguin Books

ill.70 ‘Ascent of the great Nassau balloon, Montpellier Gardens, 3 July 1837’, by George Rowe. © Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museums, Gloucestershire, UK/Bridgeman Art Library

ill.71 ‘A Consultation Prior to the Aerial Voyage to Weilburgh, 1836’, by John Hollins, oil on canvas, c.1836–1838. © National Portrait Gallery, London. Left to right: Sir William Melbourne James (Lord Justice of Appeal), John Hollins, Walter Prideaux (lawyer), Robert Hollond MP, Monck Mason, Charles Green

ill.72 Medal commemorating the balloon flight of Charles Green from London to Weilburg (Nassau) on 7 November 1836. © Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library

ill.73 ‘Ascent of Mr Green’s Balloon, on Monday Last’, 1848. © Illustrated London News/Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images

ill.74 ‘Over London – By Rail’ engraving by Gustave Doré, 1872. © Private Collection/Bridgeman Art Library

ill.75 Etching by George Cruikshank of the title page for Sketches by Boz, by Charles Dickens, 1836. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

ill.76 ‘Scientific Ascent from Vauxhall Gardens’, 1865. © Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images

ill.77 ‘Poverty Map of London’, showing the Lisson Grove area, by Charles Booth. © Antiqua Print Gallery

ill.78 ‘A Balloon View of London’, published by Banks & Co., 1851. © London Metropolitan Archives, City of London/Bridgeman Art Library

ill.79 ‘Great Fire of Newcastle and Gateshead’, October 1854. © Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

ill.80 Poster for a ‘Last Grand Night Ascent’ by the Royal Vauxhall at Vauxhall Gardens, 1858. With the kind permission of Ethan Tucker

ill.81 Poster announcing the closure of Vauxhall Gardens, 1859. © Museum of London

ill.82 John Wise, aeronaut, 1850. © Science, Industry & Business Library/New York Public Library/Science Photo Library

ill.83 John Wise’s balloon the Jupiter ascends above the city of Lafayette. © Smithsonian National Postal Museum

ill.84 ‘Aerial Sketch View of Niagara Falls – Cloud-Manufactory’, by J. Dalziel, from Through the Air: A Narrative of Forty Years (1873) by John Wise

ill.85 ‘The Atlantic over Lake Ontario’, by J. Dalziel, from Through the Air: A Narrative of Forty Years (1873) by John Wise

ill.86 ‘John La Mountain’s descent with Wise, Hyde and Oliver A. Gager’, 1859. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-61154

ill.87 John La Mountain, woodcut from Harper’s Weekly, c.1860. © Smithsonian Institution Archives, SI 90–6523

ill.88 Thaddeus Lowe, c.1855. © Courtesy of Michael Patris and the Mount Lowe Preservation Society, Inc

ill.89 Joseph Henry, photographed by Titian Peale, 1862. © Smithsonian Institution Archives, MAH-10603

ill.90 Left to right: Allan Pinkerton (head of the Union Intelligence Service), President Abraham Lincoln, and Major General McClellan at the battle of Antietam, 1862. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-cwpb-04326

ill.91 Detail from a photograph of Thaddeus Lowe ascending in his balloon Intrepid at the Battle of Fair Oaks, 1862. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-cwpb-01560

ill.92 A sketch made of Southern troop positions by Colonel William Small following an ascent in a Lowe balloon from Charles County, Maryland, 1861. © National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 2003-25385

ill.93 Thaddeus Lowe observing from his balloon Intrepid at the Battle of Fair Oaks, 1862. © Smithsonian Institution Archives, 2011-0961

ill.94 Binoculars used by Thaddeus Lowe during the Civil War, photo by Eric Long. © National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 2011-0322

ill.95 Thaddeus Lowe on horseback during the Peninsular Campaign, 1862. © Smithsonian Institution Archives, SI 80-7745

ill.96 Major General George Custer, 1865. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-cwpbh-03216

ill.97 A war balloon preparing for a reconnaissance, sketched by Ed Pietsch, 1861. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-101289

ill.98 Unnamed young woman wearing a wasp-waisted silk dress from the American Civil War era, photo c.1861–65

ill.99 ‘Thaddeus Lowe and his Balloon’, by Mort Künstler, 1991. © Mort Künstler Inc., www.mkunstler.com

ill.100 ‘Nadar Elevating Photography to the Height of Art’, lithograph by Honoré Daumier, 1862. © Private Collection/The Stapleton Collection/Bridgeman Art Library

ill.101 Aerial View of Paris, by Nadar, 1858–59. © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris/Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Art Library

ill.102 ‘Boston, as the Eagle and the Wild Goose See it’, by James Black, 1860. © Fotosearch/Getty Images

ill.103 Nadar posed in a balloon basket in his Paris studio, photo by Nadar, c.1865. © Getty Images

ill.104 The gondola of Le Géant, from Illustrated London News, 1863. © Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library

ill.105 ‘The catastrophe of Le Géant: skimming the ground at Nimbourg’, by Henry de Montaut, 1863

ill.106 ‘Le Géant approaches a train near Nimbourg’, sketch by Adrien Tournachon. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-34605

ill.107 (Right) Cover of the first edition of Le Droit au vol by Nadar (J. Hetzel, Paris, 1865). © Photobibliothek.ch

ill.107 (Left) Cover of the first edition of Memoires du Géant by Nadar (E. Dentu, Paris, 1864). With the kind permission of www.autographes-des-siecles.com

ill.108 Gustave de Ponton d’Amécourt’s ‘La Hélice’ (‘The Propeller’), photographed by Nadar, 1863. © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

ill.109 ‘Le Géant de NADAR: quadrille aérostatique … par Chardon’. Sheet music for ‘An Airborne Quadrille’, piano piece for two or four hands, with words, music and arrangement by Chardon. © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

ill.110 Gondola of Le Géant exhibited at the Crystal Palace exhibition hall, 1863. © Royal Astronomical Society/Science Photo Library

ill.111 Frontispiece to Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne, illustration by Edouard Riou (J. Hetzel, Paris, 1867). © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France/Giraudon/Bridgeman Art Library

ill.112 Cover of Voyages Extraordinaires by Jules Verne, Collection Hetzel, 1891. © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

ill.113 Title page of The Balloon Travels of Robert Merry and His Young Friends by Peter Parley, London: J. Blackwood, 1857. © Courtesy, The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

ill.113 Cover of Aventures de Paul by Jean Bruno (Bernardin-Béchet, Paris, 1869). © Courtesy, The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

ill.113 Paul takes off on the Leviathan, illustration by J. Desandr, 1869. © Courtesy, The Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

ill.114 Paul greeted variously by tribesmen. Two illustrations by J. Desandr, 1869. Author’s collection

ill.115 Cover of the first edition of Le Voyage de Babar, 1932 © Librairie Hachette, 1932/Courtesy of Aleph-Bet Books

ill.116 Ceramic plate depicting Jean-Augustin Barral and Jacques Bixio ascending from the Paris Observatory in a balloon being inflated with hydrogen gas, 1850. In the Udvar-Hazy Center, Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia, USA

ill.117 Poster for two balloon ascents by Mr Green from Cremorne Gardens, illustrated with the great Nassau balloon, by S.G. Fairbrother, 1845. © Museum of London

ill.118 James Glaisher photographed c.1860–67, by Antoine Claudet. © Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington

ill.119 The pedestal monument to Charles Green Spencer, showing a carved stone balloon, Highgate Cemetery, London © English Heritage

ill.120 ‘The Instruments of Mr. Glaisher arranged in the car’, engraving from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.121 Path of Glaisher and Coxwell’s ascent from Wolverhampton to Langham, 17 July 1862, lithograph by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.122 Glaisher (on left) and Coxwell ascending with scientific measuring instruments, c.1862–66. © Royal Astronomical Society/Science Photo Library

ill.123 A replica of Dr Merryweather’s Tempest Prognosticator, made for the 1951 Festival of Britain. © Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

ill.124 ‘The Sun rose, flooding with light the whole extent of cloudland beyond’, engraving from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.125 Plaque commemorating the world altitude balloon record at Stafford Road Gas Works, Science Park, Wolverhampton

ill.126 Path of Glaisher and Coxwell’s ascent from Wolverhampton to Cold Weston, 5 September 1862, lithograph by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.127 ‘Mr Glaisher insensible at the height of seven miles’, engraving from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.128 ‘Path of Glaisher’s Balloon over London at Night’, lithograph by Vincent Brooks, Day & Son from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.129 Three men in a balloon (left to right:) Gaston Tissandier, Wilfrid de Fonvielle, Albert Tissandier, by Albert Tissandier, from Histoire d’un ballon, by Gaston Tissandier, 1870

ill.130 Camille Flammarion, engraving from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.131 Flammarion at the eyepiece of his 9½-inch Bardou refractor at his Juvisy observatory, c. mid-1880s. © Photograph courtesy of Vintage Works, Ltd. Chalfont, PA 18914, USA, www.vintageworks.net

ill.132 ‘Universum’, or ‘The Pilgrim’, engraving imitating a medieval woodcut by Camille Flammarion, 1888, coloured by Hugo Heikenwaelder, 1998. © With the kind permission of Hugo Heikenwaelder

ill.133 ‘Butterflies hovering round the car of the balloon’, engraving from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.134 Gaston Tissandier, engraving from The Album of Famous Scientific Discoveries, 1899 © Hulton Archive/Getty Images

ill.135 Poster for ‘The ascension of the famous aeronaut Jules Duruof’ recounting his adventures, c.1876, © National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution Archives, A19772710000

ill.136 Albert (left) and Gaston Tissandier with their balloons Zénith (top left), Jean Bart (top right) and prototype airship below. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02274

ill.137 Wilfrid de Fonvielle, 1880s. Courtesy of Toussaint Coppolani and Charles Dollfus

ill.138 Barometric altimeter, by Albert Tissandier, from Histoire d’un ballon, by Gaston Tissandier, 1870

ill.139 ‘In one bound we pass through the thick layer of cloud’, engraving from Travels in the Air, edited by James Glaisher, 1871

ill.141 Letter of 24 September 1870 to an address in Fécamp, Normandy, featuring the aerostamp of balloonists Nadar, Dartois and Duruof. With the kind permission of Roumet Histoire Postale

ill.143 Duruof’s balloon Neptune about to launch from the place Saint-Pierre, 23 September 1870 © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS

ill.145 Le Ballon-Poste. Paris siege poster advertising a weekly ‘airmail’ newspaper, the Balloon Post, containing ‘a complete Journal of the week’s events, and two columns of Private Correspondence’ to be flown out by Ballon Monté (manned Balloon), for a subscription price of 20c. ‘This week’s edition of the Balloon Post gives clear and complete instructions on how to send and receive back Answer Postcards by which news and messages may be exchanged with all the departments of France.’ With the kind permission of Grosvenor Auctioneers and Valuers

ill.146 Letter dated 29 October 1870, rue St-Lazare, Paris, successfully sent by balloon to a firm of bankers in San Francisco, USA. With the kind permission of Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc.

ill.147 The Departure of Léon Gambetta in the L’Armand-Barbès from the place Saint-Pierre, 7 October 1870, oil on canvas, by Jules Didier and Jacques Guiaud. © Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musee Carnavalet, Paris/Giraudon/Bridgeman Art Library

ill.149 Adapted photograph of the departure of Léon Gambetta, 1870, from The Romance of Ballooning by Edita Lausanne/Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, Lausanne

ill.150 A balloon from Paris descends near Dreux pursued by Prussian cavalry, autumn 1870. © The Granger Collection/TopFoto

ill.151 Balloon construction workshop at the Gare d’Orléans, drawing by A. Jahandier, from Histoire d’un ballon, by Gaston Tissandier, 1870

ill.152 The projection and copying of the microfilmed siege letters by the Duboscq Megascope, from Jules Claretie’s Histoire de la révolution de 1870–7, published by Journal l’Éclipse, 1872. Courtesy of Ashley Lawrence

ill.153 Le Pigeon, by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, oil on panel, 1871. © Private Collection/Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Art Library

ill.154 Caricature of a defiant Victor Hugo as a hot-air balloon, with his various books cascading from the basket, by Georges Labadie Pilotell, 1870–71. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

ill.155 Memorial poster of balloon ascents during the siege of Paris, 1870–71, including a call-list of balloons keyed to a map of their landing places. An image of the Norwegian balloon appears bottom right, Prince’s Atlantic balloon left. Lithograph by Grandjean et Gascard, c.1870s. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-10775

ill.156 Cover page of the first issue of La Nature, with an engraving by Albert Tissandier, edited by Gaston Tissandier, 1873

ill.157 Gilt-bronze medal commemorating the Paris siege by Charles Jean-Marie Degeorge, released by the French Ministry for War, 1871–72. It shows (right, front) the figure of Marianne seated by a cannon, releasing a pigeon, with a balloon in the sky beyond; and (left, reverse) a carrier pigeon returning to its loft. Courtesy of P&D Medallions

ill.159 Tomb of Croce-Spinelli and Sivel, killed in the crash of the Zénith, 15 April 1875. © Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-70315

ill.160 Title pages of Gaston Tissandier’s Histoire des ballons et des aéronautes célèbres (2 volumes, 1887–90). © Courtesy of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ill.163 ‘Thrilling adventure of two lady parachutists’, from The Illustrated Police Budget, c.1908

ill.164 Swedish stamp depicting Salomon Andrée’s attempt to reach the North Pole, engraved by Czeslaw Slania, 1973. Courtesy of Rigastamps

ill.165 Andrée’s first balloon crew, 1896. Left to right: Dr Nils Ekholm, Nils Strindberg, Salomon Andrée, by Gösta Flormans © Gränna Museum – Polarcenter/Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography

ill.167 Nils Strindberg with his fiancée Anna Charlier, 1896. © Gränna Museum – Polarcenter/Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography

ill.168 Left to right: Knut Fraenkel, Salomon Andrée and Nils Strindberg before the second polar expedition, by Gösta Flormans, 1897 © National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm

ill.169 Launch of the Eagle from inside the balloon hangar, 11 July 1897. © Gränna Museum – Polarcenter/Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography

ill.170 Photo-illustration of the Eagle taking off and clearing the hangar, from Life, 1897. © Photo by Mansell/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

ill.171 Photo-illustration of the Eagle departing across Virgo bay, showing the disturbed wake where the balloon basket trailed in the water. © Photo by Mansell/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

ill.172 The Eagle landed on the ice, 14 July 1897, first picture taken from close behind the balloon basket, photographed by Nils Strindberg, 1897. © Gränna Museum – Polarcenter/Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography

ill.173 The Eagle on the ice, 14 July 1897, second picture taken from further away and parallel to the balloon basket, photographed by Nils Strindberg, 1897. © Gränna Museum – Polarcenter/Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography

ill.174 Knut Fraenkel, Nils Strindberg and the dead polar bear, photographed by Salomon Andrée, 1897. © Gränna Museum – Polarcenter/Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography

ill.175 Towel recovered from the Andrée polar expedition camp at Kvitoya, now in the Polarmuseet, Tromso, Norway. © Ealdgyth

Illustrations