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    Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons
    Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons
    Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons
    Ebook49 pages32 minutes

    Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons

    By Abbott Lawrence Rotch and Benjamin Franklin

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 25, 2013
    Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons

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      Book preview

      Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons - Abbott Lawrence Rotch

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons, by

      Abbott Lawrence Rotch and Benjamin Franklin

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons

      Author: Abbott Lawrence Rotch

              Benjamin Franklin

      Release Date: September 24, 2013 [EBook #43809]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, FIRST BALLOONS ***

      Produced by Chris Curnow, Bibimbop and the Online

      Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This

      file was produced from images generously made available

      by The Internet Archive)

      Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons

      BY

      ABBOTT LAWRENCE ROTCH

      Reprinted from the

      Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society

      Volume XVIII

      WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS

      THE DAVIS PRESS

      1907

      BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND THE FIRST BALLOONS.

      BY ABBOTT LAWRENCE ROTCH.

      The recent bi-centenary of Franklin’s birth, which coincided with the revival of interest in balloons, makes this a timely topic, especially since Franklin’s descriptions of the first balloon ascensions are almost unknown and do not appear among his philosophical papers. The five letters which I have the honor to present were written to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society of London, in 1783, when Franklin was Minister to the Court of France and, with the collateral documents, they give perhaps the most complete and accurate account of the beginning of aerial navigation, enlivened with the humor and speculation characteristic of the writer. It is certainly remarkable that Franklin, in the midst of diplomatic and social duties, could have found time to investigate personally this new invention of which he at once appreciated the possibilities.

      The documents which I publish are copies of Franklin’s letters, made on thin paper in a copying press (probably the rotary machine invented by Franklin), and all but one bear his signature in ink. They have corrections in the author’s hand-writing and, except for a few words, are quite legible. They were purchased by me from Dodd, Mead & Co., in December, 1905, and previously had belonged to G. M. Williamson, of Grandview-on-the-Hudson, to whom they had come from Vienna. None of the letters appear in Sparks’ edition of Franklin’s Works, and while all but one are included in the collections compiled by Bigelow and Smyth, there are numerous inaccuracies, some of which will be specified hereafter. Drafts of three of the letters are deposited in the University of Pennsylvania, but the existence of one letter and the whereabouts of another were unknown to the late Mr. Smyth, the editor of the last and most

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