History and Description of the Crystal Palace
and the Exhibition of the World’s Industry in 1851

Tallis' book, published in 1852, gives a vibrant account of the Great Exhibition, a key event of the Victorian period.

John Tallis (Author), J. G. Strutt (Edited by)

9781108026710, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 May 2011

352 pages, 40 b/w illus.
29.7 x 1.9 x 21 cm, 0.85 kg

In May 1851, the doors opened on the Great Exhibition, a celebration of British industry and international trade that spawned numerous imitations across the globe. The scale of the exhibition was immense and publishers responded quickly to the demand for catalogues, guidebooks and souvenir volumes. In a marketplace swamped with exhibition literature, Tallis' three-volume History and Description of the Crystal Palace, originally published in 1852 and reproduced here in the 1854 edition, quickly established itself as the definitive history for middle-class readers. Illustrated with high-quality steel-engraved plates of the most popular and eye-catching exhibits, Tallis' book provides a fascinating contemporary account of this cultural and commercial highlight of the Victorian age, and reveals the mind-set of a society at the peak of its imperial power. Volume 2 describes exhibits including toys, fabrics and printing for the blind, and assesses the influence of the Great Exhibition on art and science.

1. Papier mâché
2. Toys
3. Letters of M. Blanqui
4. Furs and feathers
5. Sculpture continued
6. Mr. Wornum's lecture
7. Voltaire in the Crystal Palace
8. Modern portrait painting
9. Letters of M. Blanqui concluded
10. European workmen judged by their works in the Great Exhibition
11. Manufactures from Caoutchouc
12. Substances used as food
13. Worsted, alpaca, and mohair manufactures
14. Gleanings and reminiscences
15. Printing for the blind, from the juries' report
16. Additional remarks upon Prince Albert's model houses
17. The general bearing of the Great Exhibition on the progress of art and science
18. The nautical department
18. Foreign and colonial departments continued
19. Models
20. Gleanings and reminiscences continued
21. Artists' implements
22. Cutlery – from the juries' report
23. Hardware
24. Soap
25. Working men
26. Taxidermy, and ethnographical models
27. Alliance of science and industry
28. Decorative furniture and upholstery, paper-hanging, etc. – juries' report
29. Digby Wyatt Esq., on form in the decorative arts
30. On colour in the decorative arts
31. Printing – from the juries' reports
32. The origin of exposition
33. Telescopes, orreries, globes, and model mapping – from the juries' report
34. Pipes and amber manufactures
35. Silks.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ]