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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
print, aquatint with etched outline, printed in brown ink, An English Balloon, 1784. Possibly by Paul Sandby. Former sewing holes on edge of sheet indicate it was once part of album or sketch book. Image 23.2x33.3cm, platemark 25.3x35.7cm, sheet 28x42.5cm. With 8 lines anon verse and four from Pope's Dunciad. Caricature of ascent of Allen Keegan's balloon from Lord Foley's garden, Portland Place London, thence destroyed 29 September 1784. Among the earliest satires of actual recent news ballooning event; balloon depicted as head of jester in fool's cap. Gantry and apparatus, crowd scene
