A Guide to the Great Exhibition
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!i '% f& fi% P M- 'W ^^t ;- f% 1 V WM "" )li| ISbetg Pn'l wr; i f a w THIC^A;^ RJICE, f}%: - : 18 I id - -• s AJ A GUIDE TO THE GREAT EXHIBITION. VJ PRiXTED BY COX (BROTHERS) AXD WYMAX, GREAT QUEEN STREET, ilXCOLX'S-INX FIELDS. FLAN OF GALLERIES. ii m ^HU^ CINTHAL NORTH CALLCRlf SOUTH CALLE - fatu ft<m /Kv,,., i^.;./,,/./. PLAN o, GROUND „.,**, 3 h I KB ) 1 ;^|1"" 1 4 | %A««A~-\ /fer.t |///M i h S I REICN OH CASTE 1' ; «*. HI- " I * Jj-L 1 . GALLERY "jjrti $?am&& &//iss . — » | * r .^dfasfrur </ ////rW Slates. X NORTH GALLERY E \ -- SOUTH, GALLERY 1 ir/s7r/A ZaUrerezn/. == Sw/sy/ A$frr/rs. - 1 ~i A/Zsc b VTf/Vff/S . •x. GALLERY (Jtn& /.S7///AV ffsirftskop /J///;/////// ia//f'/7 / /f//r// a V//r/rs EASTERN NAVE E^ /JsvrM&r/r = ///s/sy/ J^u/rs {^c/v?sa?/y . |1 = 1 i 1 % //rts'/sW S/"/rA Zo/Zrereav/. >5 h~] /r/r; JZzzt £xit A GUIDE THE GREAT EXHIBITION; CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF EVERY PRINCIPAL OBJECT OF INTEREST, a ;PIatt, POINTING OUT THE EASIEST AND MOST SYSTEMATIC WAY OF EXAMINING THE CONTENTS OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE. LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND CO., SOHO SQUARE. 1851. PREFACE. The volume now submitted to the notice of the reader is, with the exception of some of the introductory matter, almost entirely different from the work lately issued by the publishers on the same subject. Its object is to sup- ply an obvious deficiency in the existing catalogues, namely, the whereabouts of some of the most striking and interesting articles exhibited. The materials for it have been collected by the patient and unremitting exertions of more than one person, and their systematic arrange- ment, interspersed with remarks suggested from time to time by the variety and remarkable features of particular objects, will, it is hoped, prove at once entertaining and instructive. To attempt a complete descriptive analysis of the con- tents of this Display of Nations in the limits of a volume like the present, would have been hopelessly unreasonable. Selection has, therefore, become the important and responsible duty of its editor, and no one man can presume on having made the best choice in all cases. There is, nevertheless, strong reason to believe that this little brochure will serve as an acceptable landmark to those who wish to visit the Exhibition without spend- ing half their time in running about in quest of some undefined object, as well as to find a resting-place VI PREFACE. for their memories when they get home. The plan pursued was, after repeated visits, found less intricate, and yet more comprehensive, than any other yet sug- gested ; and the advantage of telling people where they will see something, instead of sending them to see some- thing they know not where, will, it is confidently expected, he confessed "by many of our readers. Sincerely hoping that this little hook may relieve some few persons from the bewilderment which appears to follow the Oriental dream of splendour to which the Exhibition at present gives rise, and that its pages may prove a comfortable guide to a few adventurers through the crystal mazes, we leave it to their own experience to criticise/ CONTENTS PAGE Origin of Industrial Exhibitions 1 First French Exposition 3 French Expositions 5 Previous Exhibitions in England 9 The Present Exhibition, proposed by Prince Albert 11 Its Probable Eesults , 13 Its Palace 15 Internal Arrangements 33 External Movements 57 Plan for Visiting Ground Floor—British 65 Foreign 65 „ „ Galleries 65 peincipal contents of the ceystal palace. The Teansept 66 Westeen, oe Beitish Nave 68 South Side of Beitish Nave 73 Woven Fabrics 73 Flax and Hemp 74 Woollen Fabrics 75 Hardware 75, 80 Furniture 77 Agricultural Implements 81 Mediaeval Court 83 Statuary Hoom 84 Minerals 86 Noeth Side of Beitish Nave 89 Cotton 89 Leather and Furs , 89 Mineral Manufactures 90 Furniture 91 Paper 95 Fine Arts 97 Machines for Direct Use 103 Carriages 106 Machinery in Motion 107 — — viii CONTENTS. Colonial Contributions : page Indian Department 113 Jersey and Guernsey 117 Ceylon 117 Ionian Islands 118 Cape of G-ood Hope 118 Canada , 118 Nova Scotia 120 New Zealand 120 Bermuda 121 The Bahamas 121 Tan Diemen's Land 121 Trinidad 122 Eastern, or Foreign Nave 122 United States 126 Russia 131 Sweden and Norway 131 Denmark 132 Zollverein 134 Austria 142 Holland and Belgium 151 France 153 Italy 164 Spain and Portugal 167 Turkey and Egypt 170 Persia 171 China 172 Switzerland 173 Tunis and Brazils 173 GALLERIES : North-Eastern Gallery (G in Plan) 175 North Transept Gallery 176 North-Eastern Central Gallerv (H in Plan) 178 South-Eastern Central Gallery (I in Plan) 182 South-Eastern Gallery (K in Plan) 184 North Transept Gallery 187 North-Western Gallery (L in Plan) 188 "Western Gallery 190 & 212 North-Western Central Gallery (M in Plan) 194 South-Western Central Gallery (N in Plan) 200 South-Western Gallery (O in Plan) 213 Articles Outside the Building 218 Supplementary Notices 220 I n dex 225 : THE GREAT EXHIBITION ITS PALACE AND ITS PRINCIPAL CONTENTS. The great Industrial Exhibition of 1851 will stand out in history as one of the most important events in the progress of society. No other event, up to this period, has extended its interest over so large a surface of the globe, or engaged the anxious thoughts of so many of the human family. In every quarter of the world, men will have been employed in making preparations, collecting materials, and taxing their ingenuity and skill to compete in this mighty and peaceful contest. Millions of men, women, and children compose the armies in this battle of production, and thousands and thousands, throngs from all grades of society, will witness it, to derive gratification and benefit in a great variety of forms, while it will be presented to still greater numbers by the aid of pictures, by descriptions in the languages of the principal nations, and by each eyewitness becoming, as it were, a lecturer upon what he has seen, when he returns to his own country. Indeed, as far as civilization extends, there will hardly be a nook so obscure or a person so ignorant, as not to have heard something of this huge show. Besides the incalculable influence it must exercise on the taste, skill, knowledge, and commerce of the world, it will probably go far towards the suppression of wars; and it may be considered with very great propriety as the first real peace congress of the world, since nearly all the B 2 THE ©SEAT EXHIBITION. principal powers of the earth will be represented, in many instances by the most eminent men in politics, science, literature, arts, manufactures, commerce, and skilled labour. As Englishmen, we are proud that this great "World's Eair takes place in our metropolis, and, as philanthropists, we are glad that it is so, because no other place would, perhaps, have afforded so many facilities for making so gigantic an experiment ; indeed, no ordinary city could even provide accommodation for the vast congregation of visitors. But it is to our neighbours across the Channel that we must yield the honour of having originated and developed great Industrial Exhibitions, properly so called, gradually extending them from a local to a truly national character, and, by the exercise of the most liberal and enlightened views, succeeding in holding them upon a grand scale, and in giving them immense importance. This is very evident, from the able report of Mr. Digby "Wyatt to the Society of Arts, after his mission to the ErenchExposition of 1849. Inl757, during the first Erench revolution, the Marquis d'Aveze, upon being appointed Commissioner of the late Royal Manufactories of the Grobelins, of Sevres, and of the Savonnerie, found that two years of neglect had reduced the workmen almost to starvation, while it had left the warehouses full of their choicest productions. To remedy these evils, he conceived the idea of using the chateau of St. Cloud, then unin- habited, as a bazaar for the exhibition and disposal, by lottery, of the large stock of tapestry, china, and carpets on hand in these establishments. He immediately obtained the consent of the government to his proposal, and, in a few days, says the Marquis, in his own account of his efforts, the walls of every apartment in the Castle were hung with the finest G-obelin tapestry ; the floors covered with the superb carpets of the Savonnerie, which long rivalled the carpets of Turkey, and latterly far surpassed them; and the saloons decorated with the large and beautiful vases, the magnificent groups, and the exquisite pictures of Sevres china. The Chamber of Mars was converted into a receptacle for every kind of the most ; EIKST EBENCJI EXPOSITION. 3 beautiful services of porcelain, with a wheel "of fortune in the centre of the saloon, containing tickets for the lot- teries intended to be drawn. To relieve the immediate necessities of the workmen, the Marquis procured funds, by allowing a few persons to make purchases while he was pushing on his arrangements for the exhibition, but on the very day fixed for opening the bazaar, a decree of the Directory, banishing the nobility, obliged him to fly, and the project for the time failed, after having been seen only by a few of the higher classes. "What he had done, however, in his first effort as Com- missioner of the three Government Manufactories, led the Marquis to think that, by similar means, he might accomplish great benefits for the higher manufactures and fine arts of his country ; accordingly, on his return from banishment to Paris, in the commencement of the year 1798, he at once resumed his labours.