THE AIR BALLOON

The eighteenth century was a period that demonstrated progressive change, putting into effect earlier ideas, which would influence future progress. Among these changes, emerging around the Age of Enlightenment, scientific and technological advancement in Europe reached a new phase – specifically, in aviation, when the Montgolfier brothers pioneered the first hot-air balloon. In fact, this aerostat revolution triumphed and drew immediate and widespread attention, giving rise to ‘balloonomania’.

The air balloon became the subject of, and featured in, literary texts, increasingly so as the century went on. Thus at the turn of the nineteenth century, there existed a range of publications concerning the air balloon. Some texts were dedicated entirely to the objects themselves and how they worked, but others mentioned them at some point within. There appears to be a clear distinction in attitude: on the one hand, there were publications stressing the promising aspects that the scientific invention -- at the time in its earliest stage -- gave rise to in terms of paving the way for aerostat progression, the opportunity to explore land by travelling in the air, which provided a new perspective. On the other hand, it appears that the enthusiasm for the air balloon was not felt by all, for there was some scepticism the utility of it. Perhaps one of the most interesting takes on the air balloon is its appearance in the sub-genre of the “it-narrative”, which emerged in the eighteenth century. Ultimately, it became impossible to ignore the existence of the air balloon, notably within England and France.

Eighteenth Century Invention

Early Origins

Prior to the eighteenth-century invention and subsequent success of the Montgolfier brothers (see below), an earlier Chinese invention (c.3^rd century BC) -- which is often dismissed – of the Sky Lantern (Kongming Lanten) existed. This proto hot-air balloon is been said to have been invented by Zhuge Liang (AD 181-234), and it was made out of paper and was heated by an oil lamp placed inside.

Entering into the eighteenth-century, experimentation with balloon aviation is thought to have initially been conducted by Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão, on 8^th August 1709 in Lisbon; in front of the Portuguese court, he successfully lifted a heated balloon around four and a half metres. However, even though the petition for this experiment and the event itself is historically documented, it would not be until the Montgolfier brother’s invention -- just over eight decades later -- that air balloon experimentation rose to new levels, marking the modern beginning of the air balloon that is known today.

The Montgolfier Brothers

Joseph-Michel (1740-1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (1745-1799), brothers who were raised in a paper manufacturing family, are acknowledged as the inceptive inventors of the hot-air balloon. As early as the eighteenth-century, Tiberius Cavallo mentioned that it was thought the two brothers had been thinking about the experiment of inventing the aerostatic balloon as early as the middle or latter end of 1782 (43). So it was in this year that the initial balloon experiment was conducted by the elder of the two brothers, which successfully established the discovery and invention in a series of experiments leading to what would become known as the Montgolfier balloon. This balloon was in the shape of a parallelopipedon and was made up of a bag of silk, with burning paper attached to its aperture to rarefy the air; in a short space of time, the balloon ascended to the ceiling (Cavallo 43-44), 30 metres or so.

The second attempt was made with both brothers present shortly after in open air, to which the again the balloon arose, this time to roughly 70 feet. Thus with two successful balloon experiments, two more of a similar kind -- though proportionately larger -- were constructed in the following year.

Eventually, the brothers decided that they were confident enough to display their invention to the public; this came on 4 June 1783 in Annonay, France. Since the initial experience, the balloon had already come a long way, for its shape had changed to one almost of a sphere, and it was made of paper that lined a bag of linen, which was assembled by buttons and holes; there was a wooden frame attached. In ten minutes, the balloon reached roughly 6000 feet, before carrying on travelling horizontally and at last descending. The balloon was heated by straw and wool, for although they experimented with hydrogen, they found that with paper-lined balloons, this substance was difficult to contain (Carlisle 177).

Jacques-Étienne was invited by the Academy of Sciences a few months later to repeat the balloon aviation, and at last on 19 September 1783 the first unmanned Montgolfier balloon flight took place, among whose spectators were the king (Louis XVI) and the royal family at Versailles. The balloon was attached to a wicker basket, with the following passengers: a rooster, a duck and a sheep. Cavallo notes the little time it took to construct the balloon: “this great machine was made, painted, and decorated, in four days and four nights only” (69). According to the Chateau de Versailles, the balloon rose 500 metres, but eight minutes and 3.5 kilometres later, it was damaged by a tear thus slowly descended.


Figure 1: First public demonstration of a Montgolfier Balloon.


A New Dimension of Travel
 

I have created a timeline to reveal some of the most noteworthy balloon-related events after the Montgolfier brothers' invention that occurred up to the end of the eighteenth century; but also, so that one may refer back to these events at any point. It is evident that the invention of the Montgolfier brothers' hot-air balloon proved immediately influential and marked the beginning of the progression of balloon aviation in the eighteenth century, including the first manned balloon flight in France and England.

21 November 1783: The first manned, untethered hot-air balloon flight takes place in a Montgolfier balloon, across Paris. The passengers are French physician Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent, the marquis d’ Arlandes; the former offered himself, for he was “determined to undertake an aerial voyage, in which the machine should be fully set at liberty” (Adams 459). According to George Adams, the voyage lasted 25 minutes in total, during which time they had managed to travel about five miles (459). This may be said to conclude the history of aerostatic balloons that are elevated by fire, for many further attempts have proved of little consequence or unsuccessful (Adams 460). 

1 December 1783: This is a significant event in the history and progression of the air balloon, for the first manned, untethered (hydrogen) air balloon flight takes place. Designed by a French professor of physics, Jacques Charles, and constructed by the Robert Brothers: Anne-Jean and Nicolas-Lewis. The flight started in Paris, and according to the National Balloon Museum, it lasted two and a half hours and travelled 25 miles. This eighteenth-century ‘rival’ balloon emerged as a result of the Montgolfier hot-air balloon, but instead of heated air it used hydrogen, a lighter-than-air gas discovered in 1776 by Henry Cavendish. It is known as the Charles Balloon.

19 January 1784: Joseph Montgolfier takes flight in one of the largest hot-air balloons ever to be made.

15 September 1784: The first manned (hydrogen) air balloon flight in England is made by an Italian, Vincenzo Lunardi. In a letter among many to his guardian, Vincenzo wrote on 15July 1784 that he had presented his request for “permission to launch it [he previously mentions his intention to construct an air balloon] in Chelsea gardens” (3). Indeed, later on in 1784 Lunardi successfully travelled over London; this flight was not made alone, for he was accompanied by a dog, a cat and a pigeon. However, it is often mentioned that Francesco Zambeccari was the first to conduct a balloon experiment in England on the 25 November 1783; but it is indicated in the Encyclopaedia Britannica that this flight was unmanned (Holloway 18).  

15 June 1785: French physician, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Pierre Romain set off from France to attempt (unsuccessfully) to cross the English Channel in a balloon that uses both non-heated (hydrogen) and heated gas. Shortly after 20 minutes, at around three-quarters of a mile, the balloon went to flames. The sight is described in the extract of a letter to a Mr. Fector, dated 15 June in “The annual register, or a view of the history, politics, and literature, for the years 1784 and 1785”, as: “when they were at an amazing height, the balloon took fire, burnt the cords by which the car was suspended, and the above gentlemen were dashed to pieces in a manner to shocking to mention” (328). The death of the two men are the first recorded deaths in an eighteenth-century balloon. 

7 January 1785: The first successful British Channel crossing is conducted from the cliffs of Dover (England) to the Forest of Guines (France), by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries. According to Jeffries, in his account of the voyage, it took two hours over sea and 47 minutes over the land of France (A Narrative of the Two Aerial Voyages of Doctor Jeffries with Mons. Blanchard… 34).

9 January 1793: The first manned air balloon flight in America was made by Jean-Pierre Blanchard. It was witnessed by President George Washington.

22 October 1797: The French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin took the first recorded parachute jump from around 3000 feet, with the use of the air balloon, which enabled air aviation.

Balloonomania

‘Balloonomania’ was the term given to the widespread craze for balloons or ballooning, specifically in the penultimate decade of the eighteenth-century; recently, Professor Fiona Stafford has claimed that it only really lasted from the years 1783 to 1786 (University of Oxford). In fact, in the years following the then recent invention of the Montgolfier balloon, the balloon had circulated widely -- notably within France and England -- within such a short space of time and, in turn, it had increased in popularity. According to the British Library, it was the balloon flight of Lunardi (see timeline) which really kick-started the enthusiasm for balloons within England: “[f]rom that point on, regular balloon flights brought crowds of several onlookers whenever take-offs were expected, and ‘balloonomania’ swept right across the country”. Interestingly, the spectators of such events were not constrained to class to the same extent as, say, the eighteenth-century Italian Opera; but according to Lunardi, his flight alone had “about one hundred and fifty thousand spectators on a moderate calculation, composed of all ranks and descriptions of people” (Lunardi’s Grand Aerostatic Voyage Through the Air 1). Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why the enthusiasm for ballooning was so widespread: the spectacles were more accessible than many other forms of entertainment; saying this, the air balloon became of interest to a multitude of different people for different reasons, from scientists, to those in the field of literature, to avid balloon enthusiasts.

Horace Walpole captured the novelty of the balloon in the last month of 1783: “[a]ll our views are directed to the air. Balloons occupy senators, philosophers, ladies, everybody” (Volume Twenty-Five 449). Indeed, the balloon had become the subject in everybody’s mouth, and spectators gradually increased in numbers; but views were also directed to a lesser height as balloon exhibitions rose in popularity. 


Figure 2: "Grand Air Balloon"; Vincent Lunardi ascending in his hot air balloon, four fans, one of which has been dropped, assist balloon in its ascent.

According to a letter in The Town and Country Magazine, Vincenzo Lunardi’s air balloon “was exhibited, for some weeks, at the Lyceum in the Strand, (and which exhibition produced upwards of nine hundred pounds, at only a shilling per head)” (451) Interestingly, in the eighteenth-century, 20 shillings were equivalent to one pound, so “upwards of nine hundred pounds” would mean that there were upwards of 18,000 spectators at this exhibition.



Figure 3: A Representation of Mr Lunardi’s Balloon, as Exhibited in the Pantheon, 1784. 

Lunardi’s balloon was later displayed at the Pantheon in 1784. Anna Barbauld, poet of “Washing-day”, published the following decade, was among the spectators who visited this exhibition. According to Paul Keen, Betsy Sheridan also visited the Pantheon (in 1784) and is quoted as saying “[a]ll the World gives their shilling to see it” (43). 

Evidently, the balloon became more than just the opportunity for in-air-travel in the eighteenth-century, for these ballooning exhibitions serve as one example of the ways this invention began to generate profit, owing to the enthusiasm of spectators to take in such sights. According to London Unmask’d, “[s]ince these exhibitions, (observed my friend) there seems to prevail a kind of aerial frenzy amongst us. The term balloon is not only in the mouth of every one, but all our world seems to be in the clouds” (137). This “aerial frenzy” is echoed in Anthony Pasquin’s farce, The Royal Academicians (1786), whereby “the summit of surgical excellence” (26) is prevented by when one is “seized with the Balloonomania. And deprived in an instant of the proper use of his mental faculties”. This suggests a sense of madness that arose with balloonomania, as though it took control of the individual, who is thus unable to function as before.

Even Horace Walpole reported in his correspondence with Madame Du Deffand in 1785, “[t]he balloonomania is, I think, a little chilled, not extinguished by Rozier’s catastrophe” (Volume Eight 596), which indeed, implies that even the known deaths of Rozier and Romain -- that same year -- could not entirely destroy this balloonomania; people were seriously committed to this fad. 


Figure 4: Annonay Hot-Air Balloon Festival.

Interestingly, even in the twenty-first century, there is a yearly festival:  “The Art of Flying, Hot Air Balloon Festival”, in Annonay (France) to celebrate the Montgolfier brothers first successful balloon flight; the life of the eighteenth-century is relived through reconstructions and costumes. Balloonomania has evidently made a lasting impression on the world!

Dress me like a Balloon 

It would not be long before the obsessive passion for balloons would begin to have an even greater influence on individuals; balloonomania went a step further, as it began to influence fashion trends. The eighteenth century was -- for the most part -- a period of elaborate and opulent fashions that paid particular attention to detail, which can be seen in garments such as the [waistcoat]; so the creation of air-balloon-inspired garments, which served both males and females and ranged from balloon-embroidered waistcoats to dresses, was not an exception from this. This may well be seen as one way to show enthusiasm and support for the air balloon -- from both the designers and the consumers -- or for the desire to project this enthusiasm in day-to-day life. One of the most popular balloon-inspired garments that demonstrated such elaborate designs were balloon hats (otherwise known as balloon or Lunardi bonnets). These were largely worn by women in the latter decades of the eighteenth century and served to cover elaborate balloon-inspired hairstyles; such hats became a sort of craze in themselves, as witnessed by their increase of appearance on the heads of more and more women. However, unlike public flights and exhibitions that attracted a whole range of spectators, there was a clear class separation within the use of air-balloon bonnets, as air- balloon fashions of the eighteenth-century were not created to be worn by all those who had balloonomania. In The New Spectator (1784), John Bull acknowledged just this: “[a]ir Balloon hats and caps are in the highest estimation” (4), but he predicted that “in another week, the lower order of the town ladies will exhibit them in the streets, and then farewel to Balloon hats and caps”.


Figure 5: A Cartoon Depicting Balloonomania in the 1780s - the Height of Balloon Fashion.

Balloon hats were objects that appeared frequently across eighteenth-century texts, and such hats would often be seen as being the possession of a "lady". In The Heir of Montague, a novel published in the last few years of the century (1797-98), the balloon hat appears in Chapter Three as an object of opulence and fashionable taste: "[s]he [Miss Haywood] had not been so fortunate in her endeavours to persuade her mother to wear ... a beaver hat; that lady preferring her lace ruffles, and a balloon bonnet, which had carefully been preserved ever since the days of Messieurs Lunardi and Blanchard, when every thing fashionable claimed some resemblance to their airy vehicle" (96). One can gather that balloon hats had an undeniably lasting influence on women's fashion; equally, they were the preferred headwear over other vogues, whereby women truly desired to wear the hats. Evidently, balloon-inspired garments were at one point the height of fashion in the eighteenth century, showing that the air balloon had most definitely become a source of fashion inspiration. However, Miss Haywood evidently attempts to persuade her mother not to wear the bonnet and perhaps, this is a hint at the way people perceived them as a ridiculous object; this idea can be witnessed further in Robert Burns''' poem, "To a Louse". 

Robert Burns' eight-stanza Horatian satire “To a Louse”, published in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), is a significant poem where the influence of the air balloon and thus the balloon bonnet features as a central fashionable object within a text of deeper meaning.
The poem follows the action of a louse, an “ugly, creepin, blastit wonner / Detested” (192), who is fearless and has managed to get to the top of the bonnet of “[s]ae fine a Lady” (193), in church. However, the lady remains unaware of this, and in turn reacts in vain to the winks of the church congregation, who she thinks approve of the object. Ultimately, the poet’s message is that  if we could see ourselves as others see us, mistakes and foolish behaviour -- like that of the lady – would be avoided. Note, that as a Scottish poem and presumably an initial Scottish circulation of the text, the air balloon being central to the text in turn highlights the widespread influence and presence of the circulation of air balloon fashions and balloonomania.

The bonnet is referred to explicitly twice in the poem: the first is when the louse is attempting to get to “[t]he verra tapmost, tow’rin height / O’ Miss’ bonnet” (193) and again, at the shocking sight of the louse on the bonnet: “[b]ut Miss’ fine Lunardi! Fye! / How daur ye do’t?” (194). The extent of the eighteenth century's enthusiasm for ballooning and the influence of the air balloon is emphasised, as the balloon bonnet is even termed the “Lunardi”. Interestingly, the lady’s initial point of identification is her bonnet, for her name is only mentioned in the penultimate stanza, and the bonnet is highlighted as a ridiculous object that distinguishes and sets her apart from others, as it is only desirous to the louse; this perhaps can serve as a metaphor for the reception of the bonnet within wider society, as a fashionable trend that sets ladies who possess one apart from others and perhaps even other peoples views on them. It is clear that the extravagance of the “fine” object also juxtaposes with the “ugly”, unwanted insect, who-ich should belong to “some poor body” (193); thus the bonnet appears to signify wealth and luxury, but wealth does not mean refined taste. Indeed, it is so, for the lady even misinterprets the church congregation's staring at this object.
[To listen to the full poem being read aloud (by Robert Carlyle, for the BBC) visit the following link: "To a Louse"].

As with all vogues, regardless of time, they eventually pass and are replaced with other fashions; so it was in the case with the balloon hat. Interestingly, however, the influence that the air balloon had on the design of the air-balloon hat in the eighteenth century can be seen as having a further influence on the hat in the twenty-first century. As recently as 2011, a balloon hat launched London Fashion Week. 

 

 Figure 6: Balloon Hats Launch London Fashion Week, 2011. 
 

However, as one might expect, balloonomania would not only fuel the creative mind of individuals, but the enthusiasm that people had for the air balloon was also there to be exploited, for during the eighteenth-century there were a wide range of material goods were created that centred around the balloon. Unfortunately, the identity of specific individual collectors who had developed an obsessive passion for these air during the last few decades of the century is not frequently heard of, but below is a range of artefacts that are dated to the eighteenth-century:



Figure 7: A Snuff box decorated with ballooning scene. Dated: 1783-1810 .
--- (see Snuff Boxes: to find out more about 'Snuff Boxes' in the eighteenth-century) ---

 
Figure 8: A Hand Fan: recto: Mr. Biaggini’s Grand Air Balloon. Dated: 1783.
--- (see Fans: to find out more about 'Fans' in the eighteenth-century) ---


Figure 9: A Handkerchief commemorating the first ascent of a hydrogen-filled hot air balloon at the Tuileries. Dated: 1783.
--- (see Handkerchiefs: to find out more about 'Handkerchiefs' in the eighteenth-century) ---
  

Is There Any Practical Use?

As is usually the case with such crazes that soon come to pass, there were those who were less enthusiastic but also sceptical about the invention; their attitudes towards air balloons contrasted with the balloonomania that penetrated the air around them. In such cases, the air balloon served as nothing more than a novelty or influence on fashion, as opposed to having any practical use. A certain eighteenth-century figure and companion to James Boswell in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, Samuel Johnson, appeared to be a man of that sort, as in a letter of correspondence on 13 August 1784 to Boswell, he wrote the following: “[t]o pay for seats at the balloon is not very necessary, because in less than a minute, they who gaze at a mile’s distance will see all that can be seen” (The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 629). Shortly after, on 29 September 1784, Johnson wrote: “[o]n one day I had three letters about the air balloon: yours was far the best, and has enabled me to impart to my friends in the country an idea of this species of amusement … I am afraid it must end, for I do not find that its course can be directed so as that it should serve any purposes of communication: and it can give no new intelligence of the state of the air at different heights, till they have ascended above the height of mountains, which they seem never likely to do” (The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 626-27). Again, on 8 October 1784: “[t]he fate of the balloon I do not much lament: to make new balloons, is to repeat the just again. We now know a method of mounting into the air, and, I think, are not likely to know more” (The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 438).
To read the letters of Samuel Johnson in full: The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. 

It is apparent from these extracts of Johnson’s letters that in the eighteenth-century there was tension between the novelty and public spectacle of the air balloon, and the utility of it. The thought that Johnson had, that “[w]e now know a method of mounting into the air, and … are not likely to know more”, voices the scepticism of many others in the wider sphere, who at the start of the scientific invention did not seem optimistic for its progress. This doubt could be understood in terms of the fear for practicality, for when the craze of balloonomania were to pass, what then would become of the air balloon? Johnson’s view is echoed in The Air Balloon: or A Treatise on the Aerostatic Globe…, which states that the air balloon is: “a discovery, we must confess, hitherto merely curious” (23). However, this same Treatise does go on to provide an optimistic view in that “the probable improvements which may be made in it, to be highly serviceable to society” (23) and ultimately provide “probable uses which such a discovery might ultimately lead to for the benefit of mankind” (6).

As it happens, Johnson wrote the letters when the air balloon was still in its infancy, for “probable improvements” did take place, including the crossing of the English Channel the following year (1785) (see timeline) and in 1797 the air balloon rose at a level high enough to assist the first parachute jump (again, see timeline). Ultimately, even though aerial navigation was a limitation of the air balloon, a concern that Johnson expressed in one of his letters, the air balloon did successfully serve “purposes of communication”, evidently as it provided France with the first military aerial observation at the Battle of Fleurus (1794), towards the end of the eighteenth century.

Literature

After the invention of the air balloon and in accordance with the intense enthusiasm that followed, from then on the eighteenth-century witnessed a rise of the air balloon in print culture; thus the world of print culture was impacted hugely. The list of works is extensive, but to get an idea of how the air balloon appeared across such works, provided are some examples: there were poems, such as: Mary Alcock’s “The Air Balloon” (1784) and Henry James Pye’s “Aerophorion” (1787). There, too, were plays, such as Frederick Pilon’s Aerostation; or The Templar’s Strategem (1784) and Elizabeth Inchbald’s The Mogul’s Tale: or, The Descent of the Balloon (1788). There were songs, such as: The Air Balloon, A New Song (1785?); more specifically, ballads, and satirical prints, travelogues (both real and fictitious), even a pantomime: Lord Mayor’s Day, or a Flight from Lapland in an Air Balloon (1783); whilst on the other side of the spectrum, there were scientific treatises.

The Air Balloon in Elizabeth Inchbald’s The Mogul’s Tale: or, The Descent of the Balloon (1788):

Figure 10: The title page for Elizabeth Inchbald’s The Mogul’s Tale: or, The Descent of the Balloon. 1788.

In Inchbald’s play The Mogul’s Tale: or, The Descent of the Balloon (1788) – a two-act farce, filled with satire -- the air balloon is fundamental to the action within; in fact, published in the fourth year after Lunardi’s successful flight in England, is evident within the play that Inchbald was influenced by the balloonomania that thus filled the nation, and she exploited this within the text.

The air balloon featuring in Inchbald’s play is often used as a focal point for the discussion that takes place; more so than being described, it is presented as an object which has provided the opportunity for in-air travel to lands beyond one's own. It is introduced in the first scene, where it initially mistaken for a “great ravenous bird (3)” and the satirical dialogue that commences between the ladies presents the sight of the balloon as something god-like: “perhaps this is our Prophet Mahomet coming to earth again, and this is his chariot”. This projects a satirical feel, at the absurdity and awe at which eighteenth-century spectators viewed the spectacle of the air balloon. Yet interestingly, the air balloon is presented as an unheard of foreign object on numerous accounts through the play, and again, this may well serve as ridicule of the intense craze of this “strange Machine” (6) across Europe.

Inchbald focuses on the air balloon as an opportunity for aerostatic travel and to journey across lands; as a result, the ability to escape time. The eighteenth-century debate over the utility of the air balloon and the inability to successfully navigate it can also be read within the play. For it becomes apparent that inside this balloon –  this “method of Navigation in the Clouds with winds, wanting only another discovery” (20) –  that had travelled for a great deal of time, is a doctor, accompanied by a couple (Johnny and Fanny). Over this time spent in the air, the wind eventually blew them off course to India. This reality of losing direction within the air was one that occurred frequently with air balloon flights in the eighteenth century; it hastened the death of Rozier and Romain in 1785 (see timelime). 

There is a sense of scepticism in the ideal of the air balloon, for even though John suggests the promise of the invention of the air balloon: “how the people clapp’d and huzza’d, when they saw us mount the air!”, (which portrays the reality of spectators at balloon flights, such as Lunardi’s), it is contrastingly seen as having the potential to destroy all pleasures that were present before there were “balloons to vex us” (13). However, it is important to remember that this is fiction, and the invention of the air balloon has enabled Inchbald to creatively construct a tale that touches on recent events of the late eighteenth century. Ultimately, the last description of the air balloon, being the final words of the play: “giving an account of our adventures in our grand Air Balloon” (21) sums up the world of the eighteenth century in which the novelty of the air balloon existed.

The "it-narrative"

The “it-narrative” was a popular prose subgenre that emerged in the eighteenth-century; the narratives consist of the stories of inanimate objects or animals (though less so), who are given a consciousness, wherein the reader is provided with their point of view. In turn, such an object or animal can also be used as the centre point for the narrative of another character, whilst it [the object or animal] is in circulation. According to Mark Blackwell, even though such works were popular “especially in the second half of the eighteenth century”, they “have languished in critical purgatory” (1). However, in more recent years, the revival of interest in the eighteenth-century it-narrative and the desire to return to and explore this subgenre further has made it the focus of literary scholars. One way this can be seen is in the twenty-first century publication of the it-narrative compilation British It-Narratives, 1750-1830: Volume Three.

Among it-narrative publications of the eighteenth century, one may cite The Adventures of an Air Balloon Wherein are Delineated Many Distinguished Characters, Male and Female; Particularly Dr. M -; G-H-, Esq; with his Poem of the Rape of the Smock, &c. &c.” where the narrative is spoken by the air balloon. However, unlike other it-narratives that were dated – among them  The History of Pompey the Little: or, the Life and Adventures of a Lap-Dog (1751), Chrysal: or, the Adventures of a Guinea (1760-65), and The Adventures of a Bank-note (1770) (see Banknotes, to find out more about this particular it-narrative ) -- even though the work has on it ‘the fifth edition’, the publication date of The Adventures of an Air Balloon “is almost certainly a fiction, designed to conceal the fact that most of the material in this narrative is lifted without amendment from the second volume of The Adventures of a Hackney Coach (1781)” (Lupton 217). Thus it is implied that this it-narrative lacks narrative originality. Indeed, aside from the opening episode – which is perhaps original (Lupton 217) – among the narrative, one can witness the inclusion of many other publications (perhaps the most notable being ‘The Rape of the Smock’, 1717) that take up almost 20 pages of the it-narrative (The Adventures of an Air Balloon 72-91).

One would presume that the significant presence and novelty of the air balloon in the late eighteenth-century culture would have meant that The Adventures of an Air Balloon would be widely circulated. However, in comparison with other it-narratives, there does not appear to be any evidence to suggest so; it certainly was not one of the most successful works of that kind either, as contrasted with the success of Charles Johnstone’s widely circulated Chrysal: or, the Adventures of a Guinea (1760-65), which by the turn of the nineteenth century, had gone through twenty editions (Blackwell 1).

The focus of the narrative in The Adventures of an Air Balloon is anticipated in the opening ‘Advertisement’, with the balloon stating that “I may be capable of communicating many interesting anecdotes of the different Characters who took their passage in me” (4), for the balloon has “met with many great and distinguished Personages” and it will give “Sketches of the most remarkable of those” that are thought to provide “entertainment” (5). Indeed, it becomes apparent throughout the narrative that the focus is less on the air balloon itself than on the stories of others, as for the most part the voice of the air balloon interweaves with and comments upon the dealings with its passengers thus proving rather entertaining. Ultimately, there is a real sense of the balloon as a circulating commodity and thus “its satiric vision of the world arises from its particular experience of human commerce” (Flint 212).

It is worth mentioning here The Balloon, or Aerostatic Spy, A Novel, Containing a Series of Adventures of an Aerial Traveller; Including a Variety of Histories and Characters in Real Life, published in 1786. Previously, in 1785, it was published as The Aerostatic Spy: or, Excursions with an Air Balloon. For even though this narrative does not entirely fit the it-narrative in the way that has been discussed, nor does it have conspicuous resemblance to The Adventures of an Air Balloon (as the narrator is not the balloon itself), the air balloon does maintain a central focus across the text as it enables the adventures of the narrator to take place. The fictional narrative is anticipated to be one of aerostatic adventure, and like The Adventures of an Air Balloon, to provide some form of entertainment, as understood in the preface: “I prevailed on him to suffer me to publish them [the Gentleman’s ‘curious papers’ and ‘whose affairs had called him over to Ireland’] for the instruction and amusement of our countrymen” (6).

Postscript

Interestingly, in the twenty-first century the sort of balloon that would be recognized by the Montgolfiers' contemporaries has continued in use. For example, meteorologists still use them to observe weather in the upper atmosphere, they are used as a leisure pursuit, and in various shapes and sizes they are used as advertising devices and for leisure.
 

Curiously, the air balloon continued to be used in literature; one can notice, particularly in the earlier decades of the nineteenth century, the further influence of the air balloon as an object used to explore and travel, particularly as a way of travel to the moon, for example, the short story: "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" (1835), by Edgar Allen Poe. On another note, one of the most famous of all balloon writers was the Frenchman, Jules Verne (1828-1905), whose many novels included Five Weeks in a Balloon (1863) and, even more famously, Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Even as recently as 1982, the American novelist Joyce Carol Oates published  A Bloodsmoor Romance, in which a young woman is abducted by a man sweeping low in “an outlaw balloon of sinister black-silken hue” and whose whereabouts remain unknown for decades.

Works Cited:

Primary; in order of appearance:

Cavallo, Tiberius. The History and Practice of Aerostation. London: C. Dilly; P. Elmsly; and J. Stockdale, 1785. Historical Texts. Web. 30 Jan 2015.
- This is a significant text to a general understanding of the air balloon. Cavallo provides a complete, insightful perspective into the eighteenth-century beginnings of the “new subject”: aerostation, in Two Parts. Among others, it provides a detailed account of earlier traditions, recent experiments (that were seen as noteworthy) and any problems that have arisen. The text is entirely accessible and is there to deepen and widen the knowledge; it contains invaluable primary information, with specific detail to events, which is often missed out in other sources.

Adams, George. Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Considered in the Present State of Improvement. London: J. Dillon &co, 1799. Historical Texts. Web. 30 Jan 2015. 
- This is a large work (583 pages) provided by Adams and the lectures are packed full of interesting information; they range from fluids to meteorology. A particularly useful text if one desires to find out detailed information of the air balloon, specifically on pages 455-474).

Lunardi, Vincent. An Account of the First Aerial Voyage in England. London: J. Bell, 1784. Historical Texts. Web. 30 Jan 2015. 
- Here, are numerous letters written by Lunardi to his guardian, which include the events surrounding and influencing Lunardi’s voyage; the text even contains “An Epistle to Vincenzo Lunardi” towards the end. Unlike any other text, this provides first-hand information from Lunardi himself, which is highly interesting.

“The annual register, or a view of the history, politics, and literature, for the years 1784 and 1785.” London: J. Dodsley, 1795. Historical Texts. Web. 30 Jan 2015. 
- A packed text on just about all events and information relating to history, politics and literature over two years. Especially useful for the particulars relative to the 15 June 1785 flight of Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Pierre Romain, where there is a detailed account of the event from where it all started to fall apart.

Jeffries, John. A Narrative of the Two Aerial Voyages of Doctor Jeffries with Mons. Blanchard… London, 1786. Historical Texts. Web. 30 Jan 2015. 
- These interesting narratives, include a huge amount of information and observations relating to two specific voyages. A crucial source to increase knowledge of the first successful British Channel crossing (the second voyage of Jeffries and Blanchard), but also a detailed account of their first voyage, a few months prior.

Lunardi’s Grand Aerostatic Voyage Through the Air. London: J. Bew; J. Murray; Richardson and Urquhart; and R. Ryan, 1784. Historical Texts. Web. 30 Jan 2015. 
- This text provides a complete account of the voyage made by Lunardi on 15 September 1784, with the precise use of time and various observations on the voyage. The attention to detail that is present in this text enables specific details to be gathered, which other sources fail to achieve.

Walpole, Horace. Horace Walpole’s Correspondence with Sir Horace Man and Sir Horace Mann the Younger: Volume Twenty-Five. Eds. Lewis, W. S, Smith, Warren Hunting and George L. Lam. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971. Print. 
 - These letters provide a valuable perspective on the character of Walpole, and most relevantly, his views towards the air balloon. They prove helpful in gathering an understanding of the opinions of one of the most central figures in the eighteenth century. 
 
The Town and Country Magazine: Vol XVI; for the Year 1784. London: A. Hamilton, 1784. Print.
- An eighteenth-century magazine, central to the centre: London and with focus on recent affairs and scandals. In this volume, there is specific focus on Vincenzo Lunardi’s flight in England and the novelty of his air balloon, thus the detail included is valuable to any reader.

London Unmask’d. London: William Adlard, 1784?. Historical Texts. Web. 30 Jan 2015.
- This text focuses particularly on novelty, fashion and taste; in particular of the city of London and the inhabitants, which proves very satirical. The text is relevant to the air balloon and is useful in understanding the reception of it – especially the obsessive passion that developed, otherwise known as balloonomania.

Pasquin, Anthony. The Royal Academicians. A Farce…. London: Denew and Grant, 1786. Historical Texts. Web. 31 Jan 2015.
- As stated in the title, this text is most definitely a farce. A similar text to London Unmask’d, in that the perspectives of balloonomania were of a similar nature: the intensity of such a craze projected as a form of suffering. Thus it presented a different side to balloonomania.
 
Walpole, Horace. Horace Walpole’s Correspondence with Madame Du Deffand: Volume Eight. Eds. Lewis, W. S and Warren Hunting. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1939. Print. 
- Again, letters of Walpole that provide an understanding of his life and character. It provided information on his views towards balloonomania -- which he evidently acknowledges the existence of -- and he is able to comment on events appropriately.

The New Spectator with the Sage Opinions of John Bull: Number One. London, 1784. Defining Gender. Web. 19 Mar 2015. 
- A published eighteenth-century magazine, which provides the opinions of John Bull on a variety of matters; this issue ranges from the theatre, to the air balloon. It is particularly helpful in understanding the female dress: the balloon bonnet as a fashion garment in the eighteenth century.

The Heir of Montague. A Novel. In Three Volumes. London: Minerva-Press, 1797-98. Historical Texts. Web. 27 Feb 2015.
- An interesting eighteenth-century novel; one that gets a feel for the end of a century that has been hugely influential. Among this, the air balloon bonnet features, which provides an insight into the way it was received and the impact the balloon fashion had.

Burns, Robert. "To a Louse." Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. London: T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies, 1798. 192-194. Print. 
- An eight stanza Horatian satirical poem, written in 1785 and published the following year. Not only is the balloon fashion at the centre, but this text provides a perspective that highlights the ridiculousness of the balloon bonnet, thus the juxtapositions on the opinion of this particular female fashion.

Carlyle, Robert. "To a Louse." BBC. Web. 19 Mar 2015.
- A well-read recording of Robert Burn’s “To a Louse”, where Carlyle captures the emotion of the poem and the Scottish dialect. In this respect, it proves helpful to hear the words being spoken, as opposed to simply reading them of the page.

Boswell, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D. London: Henry Baldwin, 1793. Historical Texts. Web. 31 Jan 2015.
- A text dedicated entirely to the genius of Samuel Johnson; not to be confused with a similarly titled text by Arthur Murphy. Boswell – the man who knew Johnson like no other – captures the life of Johnson: his literary works, his personal correspondences and original compositions, among others. This was significant to a deeper understanding of the scepticism, not balloonomania; a juxtaposing view that did not prove optimistic for the craze.

The Air Balloon: or A Treatise on the Aerostatic Globe…. London: G. Kearsley, 1784. Historical Texts. Web. 31 Jan 2015.
- A treatise that focuses on the scepticism and curiosity towards the air balloon, with focus on the properties of air and the construction of the air balloon. This text proved helpful in making one aware that scepticism did not mean no hope for progression, and that Johnson’s view was extremely negative.
  
Inchbald, Elizabeth. The Mogul’s Tale: or, The Descent of the Balloon (1788). Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1997. English Prose Drama Full-Text Database.Literature Online. Web. 6 Feb 2015.
- A play; surely one of the most significant texts where the balloon is fundamental to the action. It proved of high interest and very useful, as it included various eighteenth-century discussions on the air balloon, which could be witnessed within. For example, the opportunity for travel, the doubt of the invention (navigation), and balloonomania.

The Adventures of an Air Balloon Wherein are Delineated Many Distinguished Characters, Male and Female; Particularly Dr. M -; G-H-, Esq; with his Poem of the Rape of the Smock, &c. &c. London: H. Hogge, 1780?. Historical Texts. Web. 27 Feb 2015.
- One of the “it-narratives” of the eighteenth century and equally one of the most interesting texts, as the air balloon is provided with a consciousness. It provided a completely different perspective of the air balloon, with focus on the utility of the object, as an entirely new way of aerial transportation

The Balloon, or Aerostatic Spy, A Novel, Containing a Series of Adventures of an Aerial Traveller; Including a Variety of Histories and Characters in Real Life. London: W. Lane, 1786. Historical Texts. Web. 27 Feb 2015.
- Again, an “it-narrative” on the air balloon, yet the focus was more on the use of the object to enable ‘adventures’ and travel.

Oates, Joyce Carol. A Bloodsmoor Romance. 1982. New York: HarperCollins, 2013. Print.
- A Gothic romance, set in the nineteenth century; which incorporates history and satire within. It is interesting to see the way in which the air balloon features in literature -- outside the years of balloonomania – and yet, the way the air balloon remains central to the action.

Secondary; in order of appearance: 

Carlisle, Rodney. Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries. Hoboken, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004. Print. 
- Carlisle’s well-researched book covers scientific American inventions and discoveries from the ancient world, right the way through to the twenty first century. The “hot-air balloon” section (177-178) in Part Three: “The Age of Scientific Revolution, 1600-1790” (pages 149-222) proved particularly helpful, as this provided a condensed summary of the air balloon; detail, such as the Montgolfier Brothers experimentation with hydrogen, is rarely included elsewhere.

“The First Aerostatic Flight.” Chateau de Versailles. n.d. Web. 30 Jan 2015.
- A brief account of the first aerostatic flight, yet it does not omit specific detail that enable a complete visualisation/ reconstruction of the event in the head.

“Ballooning History.” National Balloon Museum. n.d. Web. 30 Jan 2015.
- Information on the history of ballooning, including facts on the adaptations of ballooning and modern uses. Again, specific and reliable facts, also helped in the creation of an accurate WIKI page.

Holloway, John. Later English Broadside Ballads, Volume 1. New York: Routledge, 1975. Print. 
- Holloway has taken a range of ballads, particularly over the former decades of the nineteenth century, to make further observation. However, this proved of use in an unusual way, as Holloway provides a fact from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which helped me to construct my timeline.

Stafford, Fiona. “The Surprising ‘balloon mania’ of Romantic Literature.” University of Oxford. University of Oxford, 2014. Web. 31 Jan 2015.
- An interview with an Oxford University academic, Fiona Stafford, whilst she is researching for a publication on the history of Romantic literature over the years 1785 to 1830. This interview proved insightful into the craze of balloonomania.

“Entertainment.” British Library. The British Library, n.d. Web. 31 Jan 2015.
- Although a more general fact page on the entertainment of the Georgians, the British Library present the scientific spectacles of the air balloon as a major form of entertainment. This helped in understanding the extent of the popularity, and the reception of the air balloon, but most interestingly, the importance that Lunardi had in initiating balloonomania.

Keen, Paul. Literature, Commerce, and the Spectacle of Modernity, 1750-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Print. 
- This is a comprehensive book on the consumer culture in the latter period of the eighteenth century. Keen provides an impressive understanding of balloonomania, enriched with historical evidence and intelligent opinion. This text definitely widened any previous knowledge or understanding.

Blackwell, Mark. “The It-Narrative in Eighteenth-Century England: Animals and Objects in Circulation.” Literature Compass 1.1 (2004): 1-5. Wiley Online Library. Web. 16 Jan 2015. 
- A brief essay on the it-narrative in the eighteenth century, which provided direct, yet insightful information on the subgenre. The text increased my understanding of the it-narrative, which in turn, enabled me to better understand and appreciate the it-narrative primary texts.

British It-Narratives, 1750-1830: Volume Three. Eds. Blackwell, Mark and Christina Lupton. London: Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited, 2012. Print.
- A chronological compilation of it-narratives that come under ‘Clothes and Transportation’; included, are carefully selected extracts from two air balloon it-narratives, introduced with an insightful introduction before each extract. The introductions were extremely helpful in order to gain a better understanding of the air balloon it-narratives, and when read prior to the it-narratives.

Flint, Christopher. “Speaking Objects: The Circulation of Stories in Eighteenth-Century Prose Fiction.” PMLA 113.2 (1998): 212-226. JSTOR. Web. 16 Jan 2015. 
- In this essay, Flint explores the it-narrative subgenre in the eighteenth century, dealing with authorial concerns, print circulation and commodities, among other focuses. Having prior interest in the of the object as a commodity, Flint offered further insights in relation to the experiences of such objects; within the it-narratives.

Images:

Figure 1: First public demonstration of a Montgolfier Balloon. n.d. The Science Museum, London. The Science Museum. Web. 15 Feb 2015.

Figure 2: Woodward, George Moutard. "Grand Air Balloon"; Vincent Lunardi ascending in his hot air balloon, four fans, one of which has been dropped, assist balloon in its ascent. 1784. Pen and black ink with watercolour. The British Museum, London. The British Museum. Web. 29 January 2015.

Figure 3: Green, Valentine and Francis Dukes. A Representation of Mr Lunardi’s Balloon, as Exhibited in the Pantheon, 1784. 1784. Etching and Aquatint. The British Museum, London. The British Museum. Web. 29 January 2015. 

Figure 4: Annonay Hot-Air Balloon Festival. n.d. Photograph. Web. 12 Feb 2015. 

Figure 5: A Cartoon Depicting Balloonomania in the 1780s - the Height of Balloon Fashion. n.d. Drawing. Burns Museum. Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. Web. 19 Mar 2015. 

Figure 6: Balloon Hats Launch London Fashion Week. 2011. Photograph. The Sunday Times. The Sunday Times. Web. 19 Mar 2015.  

Figure 7: Snuff box decorated with ballooning scene. 1783-1810. Paper mache and paint. The Science Museum, London. The Science Museum. Web. 15 Feb 2015.
 
Figure 8: Hand Fan: recto: Mr. Biaggini’s Grand Air Balloon. ca.1783. Paper leaf painted in watercolour; 16 bone sticks with residual paint and gilt. ARTstor Slide Gallery. Web. 15 Feb 2015.

Figure 9: Handkerchief commemorating the first ascent of a hydrogen-filled hot air balloon at the Tuileries. ca.1783. Photograph. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Victoria and Albert Museum. Web. 15 Feb 2015.

Figure 10: Image of the title page for Elizabeth Inchbald’s The Mogul’s Tale: or, The Descent of the Balloon. 1788. Photograph. Historical Texts. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.