There is a type of schizophrenia that causes a very distinct art style. Several books of art by schizos all show the same weird styles. This cited book has this kind of art in it, so I lean towards this being fanciful imaginings of airships but not real ones.

This is not to say there were no airships in the 1800s - there are couple of reported, cited incidents that seem a lot like some advanced balloonships that never were mainstream public. One was of a farm kid who went out for water and disappeared but they heard his voice vanishing into the sky.

watching walter bosley emergence of breakaway civilizations right now. all new info for me and figured i'd share.

https://zeroequalstwo.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/C016-GR-DSC_1213.jpg

http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/a2f16941b109b963b65aa49fc8683c825e3d5a96.jpg

Airships were a thing by the 1850s.

Hindenberg sabotage in 1939 was probably an oil conpany hit. The plan was for airships to dock at the top of office towers like the empire state building. No need for huge airports. And the eventual air-port control grid.

I've looked into this one in the past too- fun to think about. Ultimately I'm skeptical because we don't see the type of artifacts we should. For example:

• details about the mechanics and servicing of the vehicles
• equations describing the properties
• use of similar technology in peripheral applications (eg. In wheeled vehicles)