‘If I am dreaming, let me dream on, – but I defy any one to awaken me! – Let me contemplate the air studded with barques travelling with such rapidity as to humiliate the Ocean and all the locomotives of the Earth!’The first balloon flight with passengers (a sheep, a duck, and a rooster) took place on 19th September 1783. On 4th October 1863, Nadar’s giant balloon ‘Le Géant’ had its first ascent; the second (and nearly fatal) was two weeks later.A curiosity both for its content on theories of flight and its author, an important pioneer of French photography and skilled self-publicist, The Right to Fly indicates the interest taken by many at the time in the possibilities of human flight – and the Victorian passion for discoveries and invention.The Right to Fly is part of ‘Found on the Shelves’, published with The London Library. The books in this series have been chosen to give a fascinating insight into the treasures that can be found while browsing in The London Library. Now celebrating its 175th anniversary, with over 17 miles of shelving and more than a million books, The London Library has become an unrivalled archive of the modes, manners and thoughts of each generation which has helped to form it.
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