A popular spectacle to attend during the Regency era were balloon ascensions. The French were the leaders in balloon experimentation, leading to the first hydrogen balloon ascensions in the late 1700s. The first balloon ride with living creatures occurred in 1783 when the Montgolfier brother sent a sheep, duck and rooster up before a crowd at the royal palace in Versailles. A few days later the first manned balloon went up for a two hour flight.
Balloning soon spread over the Channel (literally with a crossing in 1785) by the late 1700s, and balloon ascensions captured the public imagination and became an attraction not to be missed.
The images depict frameles parachute inventor Angre-Jacques Garnerin’s famous experimental balloon ascension and parachute descent.
The Rise and Progress of Aerostation; Or General History of Balloons, 1802
