Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

These amazing, almost 100-year old covers of the weekly French magazine Le Petite Journal are from the online collection of the french National Library. They show what were the most exciting innovations of the 1920s, and how people in Europe imagined the future of technology and science.

The locomotion of tomorrow

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Is this true?

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Experience artificial lightning

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

In the vast solitude

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Circuit de Touraine

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

A race between a fast train and a car

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Professor Piccard’s magnificent feat

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Amphibious tanks

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Eclipse

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Drama at the bottom of the sea

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

A fabulous vision

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Racing on Mount Revard

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

The parachute world record

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Crossing the Sahara by automobile

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Under the sea

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

The deadly work

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Work underwater

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Scaphander—a service of justice

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Between the sky and the street

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Carried away by a torpedo

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

The heroism of a mechanic airman

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France

Surgeons for balloons

Illustration for article titled 22 Incredible Images Show What the Future Looked Like 100 Years Ago

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Image: Le Petit Journal illustré/Bibliothèque nationale de France