Object Details
- collector
- Upcott, William 1779-1845
- former owner
- Hollond, Robert DSI
- Carruthers, John Franklin Bruce 1889-1960 DSI
- Binder's title.
- Collection of prints, newspaper and journal clippings, mss., separately published tracts, and printed ephemera (in various sizes) connected with the early years of aeronautics, primarily ballooning.
- Arranged in roughly chronological order, e.g., v. 1 has material mostly from ca. 1783-1802; v. 2 mostly from 1785-1837; and v. 3 mostly from 1837-1840. However, each v. also includes materials from dates outside of these ranges.
- Page [423] is signed: "William Upcott of Islington, collector of engravings connected with aerostation."
- Text mostly in English, with some French language materials.
- Originally unbound. cf. Cat. of the Library of W. Upcott, London, 1846, p. 65.
- Includes these published works bound in (each cataloged separately): Lunardi, V. An account of the first aërial voyage in England. London : Printed for the author ..., 1784 -- The Man in the moon. [S.l.? : s.n.?, ca. 1830] -- Sadler, J. Balloon, an authentic account of the ærial voyage of Messrs. Sadler and Clayfield. [Bristol] : Printed for the benefit of Mr. Sadler, by A. Brown, [1810] -- High and low. London : Printed by L. Thompson, 1824 -- A full and correct description of this extraordinary machine ... the Eagle. London : Printed and published by J. Thompson, 1835.
- A short ([4] p.) anonymous handwritten political allegory with an aeronautical theme, entitled: "The Dolphin carried off: a dream," is mounted on p. 7 of v. 1.
- Some of the balloonists featured in this scrapbook include the Montgolfiers, Lunardi, Blanchard, Garnerin, Robert, Charles, Barrett, Hullin, Sowden, de Moret, MacGwire, Graham, Sadler, Green, Cocking, and Gypson, among others.
- NASMRB copy has a leaf of viewers' signatures and their brief comments, dating from the mid-20th century, bound in at the front of v. 1.
- Also available online.
- NASMRB copy has been re-bound in 3 v., with each v. bound in full red leather with raised bands and gilt-lettered spine, interleaved throughout with blank sheets of paper; each v. is housed in a separate linen-covered box with printed red paper spine labels.
- NASMRB copy has bookplates: 1. (armorial) Robert Hollond, with motto: Vincit qui se vincit; 2. Library of the National Air Museum: a gift from Mrs. John Carruthers ... Pasadena 5, California.
- NASMRB copy has p. 129-136 in v. 1 misbound upside-down and in reverse order between p. [128] and 137.
- NASMRB copy has some ms. annotations made by the collector and by subsequent owners.
- Elecresource
- 1783
- 1783-1840
- Call number
- TL620.A1 U65
- TL620.A1U65
- Type
- Early works to 1900
- Physical description
- 3 v. ([445] p.) : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 53 cm
- Smithsonian Libraries
- Topic
- Balloon ascensions
- Aeronautics
- Balloonists
- Parachuting
- Record ID
- siris_sil_120679
