Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.10228
    Looking for a special gift? Buy a print of this image.

    ‘The balloon over Helsbye Hill in Cheshire’

    Date
    1786
    Creator
    William Sharp (1749 - 1824, British) , Engraver
    After
    Thomas Stothard (1755 - 1834, British) , Illustrator
    Object type
    Library reference
    26300
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 264mm
    width (print): 166mm
    Subject
    Content object
    nature
       > landscape
    Description
    Landscape showing the steep cliffs of Helsby Hill and the Mersey Estuary with the balloon piloted by Thomas Baldwin visible in a break between two clouds at the top of the image. The illustration was captioned by the author: “The balloon over Helsbye-Hill...It is seen in the South-West quarter. The view was taken in a high field, at the end of Sutton-Causeway.”

    Plate 2 from Airopaidia: containing the narrative of a balloon excusion from Chester...by Thomas Baldwin (J.Fletcher, Chester, 1786). Inscribed above: “To face page 78 of Airopaidia”. Inscribed below: “R.Newton. T.Baldwin Arm. design et pinx. Stothard delin. Sharp sculps. The BALLOON over HELSBYE HILL in CHESHIRE see page IIIIb. Published May 1st 1786, by T.Baldwin Chester.”

    Thomas Baldwin made a pioneering flight from Chester on 8 September 1785 sketching the landscape as he travelled. The balloon belonged to the Italian aeronaut Vincenzo Lunardi (1759-1806).
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
    Powered by CollectionsIndex+/CollectionsOnline