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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC04936 |
| From Archive Folder | Documents Relating to 1786 |
| Title | George Washington's copy of "A Narrative of the Two Aerial Voyages of Doctor Jeffries" |
| Date | 1786 |
| Author | Jeffries, John (fl. 1786-1790) |
| Document Type | Book |
| Content Description | "A narrative of the two aerial voyages of Doctor Jeffries with Mons. Blanchard; with meteorological observations and remarks...." Printed for the author. Small folio format, signed on the titlepage by George Washington. Handsome tree-calf binding. With handsome frontispiece engraving of Jeffries. Jeffries had been a Loyalist who went to England where he pursued research on air, its properties and balloons. After this flight, he went to Paris, dined with Franklin and met John Paul Jones. He returned to Boston in 1790. In 1794, Blanchard came to America and in Philadelphia, with Washington's blessing, made the first balloon ascent in America. There are two corrections in an unknown contemporary hand on the engraved endpiece on page 60, identification of Jeffries, has been changed from "Britanicus" to "Americanus" in the Latin and "Anglais" to "Americain" in the French. Athenaeum Catalog (1897) p. 550 (item 11 in the GW's estate inventory). |
| Subjects | President Library Science and Technology Ballooning Aviation |
| People | Washington, George (1732-1799) Jeffries, John (fl. 1786-1790) |
| Place written | London, England |
| Theme | The Presidency; Arts & Literature |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859 |
| Additional Information | Signer of the U.S. Constitution. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |