Caption:
The grand air balloon. Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Sheldon ascending in a balloon on the 16 October, 1784. A collection of broadsides, cuttings from newspape. 1780?-1810?. The grand air balloon as it ascended with Messrs. Blanchard & John Sheldon, from the Royal Military Academy, Little Chelsea, 16 Oct. 1784. Jean Pierre François Blanchard (1753-1809), a French balloonist, inventor of the parachute, was killed at La Haye using one. He was the first man, with John Jeffries, an American, to cross the English Channel by balloon, from Dover to Calais in 1785. Image taken from A collection of broadsides, cuttings from newspapers, engravings, etc., of various dates, formed by Miss S. S. Banks. Bound in nine volumes. Originally published/produced in 1780?-1810?. Source: L.R.301.h.3, 146.