Following our post 'Part 2 - Tytler and the Grand Edinburgh Fire Balloon' from last week, we continue the story of James Tytler. Aerostation plate from the third edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.Image credit: http://www.archive.org. Public domain The success Tytler found in launching and piloting his fire balloon in August 1784, was sadly not to … Continue reading Part 3 – Tytler’s rise and fall
Part 2 – Tytler and the Grand Edinburgh Fire Balloon
This is part two of our profile of James Tytler, the first person in Britain to fly by hot air balloon. Part one is available here on Open Book. Tytler was not alone in his enthusiasm for the possibilities offered by air balloons as a means of human conveyance and by the early 1780s fully-fledged … Continue reading Part 2 – Tytler and the Grand Edinburgh Fire Balloon
The sky’s the limit: James Tytler and balloon-mania in the archives – part 1
Should you have been on Edinburgh’s Princes Street, a little before noon on Monday 19 July 1784, you would have been greeted by an extraordinary sight. The elegant and imposing Register Office (now General Register House), the first purpose-built public records repository in Britain and Ireland and still the home of the National Records of … Continue reading The sky’s the limit: James Tytler and balloon-mania in the archives – part 1
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