Photograph album containing 12 images. N.p., circa 1909. Composed of unbound leaves, each approximately 10 x 7 in. Period white ink captions to each. 

A group of mounted photographs featuring the preparation for a balloon flight and views taken from the air. 

Several photos taken from the ground capture flight preparation and maintenance, including attaching the basket to an inflated balloon, disconnecting the appendix from the gas supply, and stretching the balloon. Three group photographs highlight the cheerful atmosphere with views of a man and a woman in a tree and another with three men, one woman, and a young boy surrounding a wagon that is serving as transportation for a hot air balloon basket. Inside the basket stands a young man who is, perhaps, anxiously awaiting his turn in the sky.

The album also includes five photographs that were taken from a launched balloon. One photograph captures a town and landscape caught in heavy rain, while another was taken from above storm clouds at an altitude of approximately 7,000 feet. The photographer also took images from the balloon from approximately 4,000 feet above the ground, putting them “about level with clouds.”

The first manned hot air balloon flight was documented on 8 August 1709 when Brazilian-Portuguese priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão elevated approximately four meters from the ground. A series of scientists, inventors, and engineers studied gaseous elements, materials, and designs, which led to the first unmanned, untethered flight on 21 November 1783. The flight, which originated nearly 6 miles from Paris at the Chateau de la Muette, lasted for 26 minutes. Ten days later, Jacques Charles Robert and his brothers, Anne-Jean and Nicolas-Louis, launched their hydrogen balloon in Paris. Beginning in the 1790s, gas was the dominant energy source for balloonists. The popularity and entertainment value of ballooning grew as cities held public launches. Ballooning also led to innovations in the study of weather, aerial travel, mail delivery, and espionage. 

A fine ballooning album. 

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