When I hear of the recent failed attempt by a North Carolina man to cross the Atlantic Ocean with a copse of balloons, it brings to mind the year of 1835 when people on both sides of the Atlantic had dreams of crossing the ocean in hot air balloons. Perhaps some of us still have that wild-eyed fascination with balloons. In 1835, writers latched onto this public enthusiasm to create sci-fi tales where the balloons went ever higher, with some reaching as far as the moon. The stories were: “Leaves from an Aeronaut” by Willis Gaylord Clark; “Great Astronomical Discoveries Lately Made by Sir John Herschel, L.L.D. F.R.S. &C. at the Cape of Good Hope” by Richard Adams Locke; “Glimpses of Other Worlds” by Thomas Charles Morgan; and “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall” by Edgar Allan Poe. None of these stories made the cut in Mesaerion: The Best Science Fiction Stories 1800-1849 (www.andrewbarger.com/bestsciencefictionstories1880.html), but follow the link to see which classic sci-fi stories did.
