Das erste Luft-Post-Schiff genant der Adler nach der Natur getreu abgebildet.

Engraving, 395 x 261 mm. Interesting German engraving, describing the airship built by Count Lennox in London in 1834/35. "In 1835, the comte de Lennox built the 'Eagle', a cigar-shaped airship that he displayed in London. This craft had four large paddles on either side that 'experimental sailors' were to turn back and forth like the oars of ancient ships. No evidence exists that Lennox tried to fly his invention, nor is there any reason to think it would have worked if he had tried" (Don Berliner, Aviation: Reaching for the Sky [1997], p. 33). - "[The airship of 98,700 cubic feet capacity] is of interest because a small balloon or ballonet, 7,050 cubic feet contents, was placed inside the larger one for an air filling. A car 66 feet in length was rigged beneath the envelope by means of ropes eighteen inces long. Above the car the envelope was provided with a long air cushion in connection with a valve. The intention was by compression of the air in the cushion and the inner balloon, to alter the height of the airship, in order to travel with the most favourable air currents. The motive power was 20 oar propellers worked by men. The airship proved to be too heavy on completion to lift its own weight, and was destroyed by the onlookers" (George Whale, British Airships: Past, Present and Future [1919], p. 16). - Occasional insignificant browning; slightly wrinkled. Traces of folding. - Cf. the like-sized drawing, dated 1838, in the ILA catalogue: Liebmann/Wahl (1912), no. 136 (probably based on this engraving, or vice-versa).