Item 8 - ‘Aeronautica’: prints, cuttings, and other papers relating to the history of ballooning

1 volume (39 x 29 cm), containing 35 leaves, 7 documents (ff. 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 27), and 4 loose cuttings. Most of the other leaves have prints, cuttings, letters, etc., pasted to them. Half-bound.

This collection was probably assembled by Lord Houghton (cf. f. 30r). Binder's stamp of J. Leighton, Brewer St. The armorial bookplate of Robert, Earl of Crewe, is pasted inside the volume and his heraldic ‘garb’ is stamped on the front cover. Some of the contents may have been collected in pursuance of the aim expressed in the ‘Proposal’ on f. 23r.

On the spine is stamped 'Aeronautica'.

The contents are foliated 1–42.

• inglês
• francês

Compare the rather larger collection of William Upcott, now in the Smithsonian Institute in the United States, which contains some of the same prints and cuttings.

In the descriptions of the contents of this volume Monck Mason's Aeronautica (1838) is referred to by a short title. The full title is Aeronautica, or Sketches illustrative of the Theory and Practice of Aerostation, comprising an enlarged account of the late Aerial Expedition to Germany.