In the 1780s, in Paris, the Montgolfier brothers and Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles engaged in a spectacular race to levitate into the sky using balloons. Their “artificial clouds,” as one writer described the flying globes, would enthrall the French capital and set off a craze for all things balloon.

“By the end of 1783 balloon flight was a genuine phenomenon. Ballomanie, or ‘balloonomania,’ had swept the nation, with the vessels displayed not just in books and prints, but also used as embellishments for clothing, jewelry, porcelain, curtains, wallpaper, and other decorative arts,” according to Museum and Library of the Science Institute.

Our handsome wrapping paper is based on the many prints made at that time, pre-photography, chronicling the ascensions, which were displayed in shop windows sometimes mere days after the events they chronicled.

The muted and sophisticated colors of the wrapping paper reflect the period prints that were hand-painted by colorists in watercolor. Each illustration is labeled, in French, with the name of the model.

This all-occasion gift wrap is acid-free and therefore also suitable for bookbinding, scrapbooking, and other creative projects.

Imported from Italy. The company who makes this paper maintains its roots in the heart of Tuscany, the centuries-old cradle of the noblest paper manufacturing traditions.

Two 19.5" x 27.5" sheets.