Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Hot air balloon disaster 1863!

I picked up a copy of the June, 1957 Argosy magazine at an antique store. I was immediately taken by a great article on an historic event I hadn't heard of. I'm sure you're a lot like me; there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy, and there are innumerable historic events I have vague or no knowledge of. A disastrous 1863 trip in a hot air balloon, which influenced Jules Verne, was new to me, and told in a very entertaining way by Vincent Starrett.

Starrett was a newspaperman, essayist, critic, novelist, weird stories writer, famous member of The Baker Street Irregulars, the Sherlock Holmes society, and all around renaissance man of belle lettres. He was born in 1886 and died in 1974.

The article is copyright 1957 by Popular Publications, Inc.





While we're on the subject of writers, here's the back cover of the magazine, featuring Jack London getting loaded on Old Crow with his buddy.



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