EDUARD SPELTERINI AND THE SPECTACLE OF IMAGES

The Swiss Eduard Spelterini (1852-1931) was perhaps Europe's greatest pioneer of ballooning in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was the first to cross in a balloon and photograph from the air the Alps in 1898 and to take aerial photographs of the pyramids of Giza, ancient Persian cities and South Africa's gold mines. Born an inn-keeper's son in a remote village in Switzerland he lived an extraordinary life and became an international celebrity as an aeronaut and socialised with Europe's rich and noble of the Belle Epoque. What makes Spelterini interesting and important are his achievements in aerial photography. The talented and soon accomplished photographer made the camera a firm part of his balloon equipment from 1893. A vast number of his sensational images have been coloured in an elaborate technique at the time and were used by Spelterini to illustrate the many hundred lectures he gave about his travels and expeditions in many countries. A sequel to 'Eduard Spelterini - Photographs of a Pioneer Balloonist', this new book presents a selection of around 80 of these coloured photographs. The remarkable quality of the colouring enables an altogether new view at Spelterini's spectacular work as a photographer. The pictures in 'Eduard Spelterini and the Spectacle of Images' are complemented by essays on historical and technical aspects of photography and air travel by expert authors.

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