[Captive balloon of Henri Giffard over Paris, 1878; low above Saint Roch church] – Historic Reproduction
![[Captive balloon of Henri Giffard over Paris, 1878; low above Saint Roch church], 1878 — historic photograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/64/64ac335962fa-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
[Captive balloon of Henri Giffard over Paris, 1878; low above Saint Roch church] comes to life in this historic photograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.
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[Captive balloon of Henri Giffard over Paris, 1878; low above Saint Roch church]
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Henri Giffard's captive balloon hangs low above the Saint-Roch church in this 1878 view, a rare picture of a tethered balloon set so close to a Paris landmark. Giffard, an engineer best known for his steam-powered airship of 1852, built captive balloons that carried passengers on short ascents above the city. The 1878 Exposition Universelle drew large crowds to such rides, and the rooftops and spires below were a large part of their appeal. The print comes from the collection of Gaston Tissandier, an aeronaut and writer who documented ballooning, and it shows the new craft sharing the sky with the old skyline.
| Created / published | 1878 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
| Genre | Photographic prints 1870-1880. |
| Subjects | This record contains unverified data from old caption card, with subsequent revisions. Tissandier Collection. Caption card tracings: Churches--France--Paris--1878; France--Paris--Misc.--1878; Balloons--1878; BI; Geogr.; Shelf. Giffard, Henri, 1837-1910. Sources checked: BI; BF; MUMS. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,015 × 1,536 px · prints to 3 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-151935 |
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