Paper peepshows by ACC Art Books

PAPER PEEPSHOWS THE JACQUELINE AND JONATHAN GESTETNER COLLECTION

RALPH HYDE

THE STORY OF PAPER PEEPSHOWS

t was Christmas. In Berlin it was the custom for confectioners and other shopkeepers to lure customers to their premises by erecting large optical perspectives. The themes could be classical or topical, Christian or Pagan. Sometimes these paintings incorporated transparencies and moveable figures. Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s show in 1809 was even accompanied by a choir. In 1825 the Viennese bookseller and art dealer, Heinrich Friedrich Müller, organised such a Christmas show in his Berlin premises in Königstrasse. It consisted of cosmoramas – small panoramas of Swiss mountains painted by Samuel Biermann, set into the walls of the gallery and viewed, one presumes, through built-in lenses. Each cosmorama in effect was a giant peepshow. On sale in the gallery were ‘elegant Christmas presents’. These included a very relevant ‘teleorama’, a newly invented paper toy peepshow designed to amuse children. An aristocratic shopper, Henriette von Hülsen, visited the gallery. ‘The shop offers the most elegant Christmas presents’, she reported enthusiastically. ‘Mr Müller has a rich stock of precious art and industrial goods. My companion and I chose several things, among others the ‘Teleorama, a Present for Young People’ [Plate I), as it is called. It offers peepshow-like views of the Marble Palace [Marmorpalais] and of Sanssouci [Frederick the Great’s summer palace at Potsdam] seen in the distance and richly decorated with props, so that even an adult enjoys looking at it. This pretty toy is an item published by Mr Müller’.1 Heinrich Friedrich Müller (1779-1848) can be considered a prime mover in the paper peepshow story.2 Born near Hanover on 1 May 1779, he arrived in Vienna in 1805 and married the widow of a Viennese publisher, Lukas Hochenleitter. He established his shop at 1149 in Kohlmarkt, Vienna’s equivalent of Paternoster Row in London and rue St Jacques in Paris. His neighbour at 1151 was Artaria, the music publisher who published over 300 works by Joseph Haydn and also works by Mozart and Beethoven. Müller’s interests included children’s storybooks, sheet music, cut-out figures, toy theatres, a toy art gallery, calendars, children’s colouring books and children’s games. He greatly improved the quality of children’s books in the Germanspeaking world, engaging the best illustrators, engravers and lithographers. He issued several thousand needlework patterns. Optics interested him and he published two optical toys with moving mechanisms – one of a hunt, the other of an Italian sea harbour.3 He was inevitably involved in the sequence of crazes for parlour games and paper toys that swept through Western Europe in the years following the Battle of Waterloo – Hammer and Bell for instance,4 tangram5 and myrioramas6 – copying other

people’s ideas sometimes, and sometimes introducing his own.7 In a list of new national and foreign literature for the year 1825, ‘Teleorama No. 1’ is included.8 Obviously a whole series of teleoramas was being planned. Teleorama No. 1 was also advertised in the Amts- und Intelligenzblatt von Salzburg for 24 October 1825.9 The advertiser on this occasion is the art and music dealer, Benedikt Hacker. He describes it as ‘an optical entertainment, consisting of eight cut-out landscapes [i.e. the front-face, six cut-out panels and the back-scene] arranged in a line...representing… in a surprising way, in a very deep perspective, figures which are shown in different activities, either in a rural landscape or in a beautiful garden’. It was housed in a slip-case. Precisely when Müller had issued his Teleorama No. 1 we do not know. Hacker’s advertisement for it is not a ‘This Day is Published’ notice: it is simply an item that Hacker at this moment has in stock. Müller had made no mention of ‘Teleorama No. 1’ in his Christmas list for 1824, however.10 It must therefore have been published between the end of December 1824 and October 1825.11 In his Christmas list for 1825, Müller lists ‘Teleorama No. 1’ and also ‘Teleorama No. 2’. ‘Teleorama No. 2’ is simply described as a ‘similar entertainment’. The word Müller assigned to his new toy, ‘Teleorama’, had been concocted from the Greek, tele (at a distance) and orama (a view). Later in Germany the toy would sometimes be referred to as a ‘Perspektivische Ansicht’ or ‘Faltperspektive’. In France in the 1820s and 1830s teleoramas were called ‘optiques’, in Britain ‘areaoramas’, ‘expanding views’, ‘perspective views’, ‘telescopic views’, and ‘pocket panoramas’. Eventually in Britain, in c.1910, the word ‘peep-show’ was adopted. Nowadays in France they are called vues dépliantes à perspective. In the United States they are called ‘tunnel books’ and are considered a category of the pop-up book and artist’s book phenomena. Müller was still including his teleoramas in his 1841 stock12 list and describing them thus: Teleorama No. 1, ‘an optical entertainment… showing many persons in a rural landscape, a beautiful garden, etc. Pocket size in a box. Price: 1 Thaler’; Teleorama No. 2 ‘a similar entertainment. Price 1 Thaler’, and Teleorama No. 3, ‘a similar entertainment showing the interior of a Gothic church. Price 16 Groschen’. Teleorama No. 1 is represented in the Jonathan & Jacqueline Gestetner Collection (hereafter J&JG Collection), and I have seen several copies of it in other collections. Every copy I have examined has had minor differences: the front-face for it was re-drawn and re-engraved several times. Initially it was a handcoloured etching but a later version of it is a lithograph.

THE STORY OF PAPER PEEPSHOWS

Plate I. Slip-case for H. F. Müller’s ‘Sanssouci’ teleorama, 1825. [Cat. 2]

Teleorama No. 2 is represented in the Morgan Library & Museum, New York. I have yet to see a Teleorama No. 3. In addition to the numbered teleoramas, however, Müller issued several unnumbered teleoramas; the Sanssouci teleorama is one of them [Cat. 2]. All of Müller’s teleoramas share certain characteristics. They are well designed and the images are confidently drawn. For his games – the two optical toys with moving mechanisms, for example, and a pack of transformation playing cards – Müller had employed Matthäus Loder (1781-1828), court artist to Archduke Johann of Austria. In order to protect his teleoramas, Müller housed them in slipcases. Their front-faces, with one exception, consist of romantic images of generously foliated trees by a stream or a pool. Where there is one tree, a bough will reach to the ground and the allimportant peep-hole will appear in the irregular space between the bough and the trunk. If there are two trees, the peep-hole will be positioned in the vacant space created between the two trunks. In consequence, the peep-holes on Müller teleoramas are large, irregularly shaped cut-outs. When expanded, a Müller teleorama

will display six cut-out panels upon which appear fairly large figures. For teleoramas of villas or palaces, rustic figures will appear on the first four – a shepherd who flirts with a young lady for example, a flock of sheep, a cow with her calf, a boy recumbent on the verge. In contrast, people of class will perambulate in the garden on the fifth and sixth cut-out panels. The subject of the teleorama – the villa or palace – climaxes on the backscene. In the case of the Sanssouci teleorama, the purchaser was supplied with a slide to be inserted immediately in front of the back-scene, which transformed it into an alternative Potsdam landmark – a view of the Marmorpalais. The peepshow entitled ‘English Garden’ re-uses some of the cut-out panels from other Müller teleoramas. At Ermenonville, J.J. Rousseau’s body had been entombed in a neo-classical sarcophagus on the Île des Peupliers. Replicas of Rousseau’s tomb became a fashion in English gardens in Europe, creating an Elysian corner where feelings of tender melancholy could be excited in perambulating visitors. A tomb replicating Rousseau’s, but with a weeping willow rather than poplar trees, appears on Müller’s slipcases.

THE STORY OF PAPER PEEPSHOWS

Maria Graham In 2011, the Gestetners acquired a curious home-made watercolour peepshow [Cat. 228]. Its front-face showed an ancient tree with a heavy branch that reached down to the ground. The space between the arched branch and the tree’s split trunk provided a large irregular peep-hole. It is very Mülleresque. Peeping through this peep-hole one sees on the first cutout panel a (European?) lady in conversation with a native South American. The figures stand on a path between rocks and cacti. The second cut-out panel is of a lake with an island, and the third a lake-side village nestling at the foot of mountains, which soar up on either side and behind it. The back-scene consists of snow-covered mountains and sky. On the reverse appears an ink inscription reading, ‘View from L’Angostura de Paine in Chile’. All the physical elements of the peepshow – front-face, cut-out panels, back-board and the bellows – are held together by neat stitching [Plate XVII]. The peepshow is neither signed nor dated. The quality of the watercolour is very fine; the artist is likely to have been an exceptionally good amateur. Who could that artist have been? Since the inscription is in English, the likelihood is that it is the work of an English traveller in South America. The travel writer and amateur artist, Maria Graham fits the bill [Plate XX]. Born in 1785 in Cockermouth, Cumberland (now part of Cumbria), she travelled to India in 1808

and recorded what she saw and experienced in her journal and in a large number of drawings, which are now in the British Museum Print Room. Her Journal of a Residence in India was published by Archibald Constable & Co. in 1812. Whilst in India, she met, fell in love with and married a naval officer, Thomas Graham. In 1821, she accompanied him to South America on board HMS Doris, a 30-gun frigate, of which he was captain. Just after rounding the Cape, in April 1822, Capt Graham died of a fever. Well-wishers begged Maria to return to England but after a spell in Valparaiso she chose to tour Chile, recording her experiences and making copious drawings, many of which are also in the British Museum Print Room. Her written account was published in 1824 by Longman and John Murray as Journal of a Residence in Chile during the Year 1822. It is furnished with a set of aquatint plates engraved by Edward Finden after the author’s drawings. One has the title, ‘View of L’Angostura de Paine’. It corresponds almost exactly with the watercolours on the peepshow though obviously for the peepshow the image has been disassembled and re-presented on the sequence of cut-out panels. For the peepshow, the image is supplemented by the two figures on the cut-out panel. The Journal text notes: ‘The scene reminded me of some of those quiet rich views we have in the heart of England’. When in due course she reached Brazil, Maria Graham was appointed tutor to the daughter of Don Pedro, the Brazilian Emperor.

Plate XVII. Stitching attaching bellows to cut-out sections for the home-made peepshow of a view in Chile, most probably by Maria Graham. [Cat. 228]

THE STORY OF PAPER PEEPSHOWS

Plate XVIII. ‘View from L’Angostura de Paine in Chile’, engraved by Edward Finden after Maria Graham (1824). [Cat. 228] (British Museum, 1938.0919.4)

Plate XIX. Cut-out sections and back-scene for home-made peepshow of a view in Chile, most probably by Maria Graham. [Cat. 228]

THE STORY OF PAPER PEEPSHOWS

Plate XXXVIII. Front-face of Ludwig Canal peepshow, designed by A. Heideloff, 1843. (Getty Research Institute)

small peep-hole that punctures the base of the Obélisque.42 A curious peepshow that falls within the ‘reportage’ category is ‘Die Eroberung von China durch die Engländer’ [Cat. 149], which depicts an imagined incident during the First Opium War. A Chinese representative kneels in the street humbly accepting a document from a uniformed figure on horseback. This must refer to one of two events. The Chinese representative could be Yishan, Governor General of the province, and the uniformed figure could be Charles Elliot, the British plenipotentiary. The document would be the preliminary Treaty of Chuenpee. In actual fact neither the Chinese authorities nor the British government were prepared to ratify the document. Yishan was vilified as a treacherous appeaser and Elliot was recalled by a furious Palmerston and replaced. Alternatively, the Chinese representative could be Qishan and the British representative Sir Henry Pottinger, Elliot’s replacement. If this is so, the document will be the Treaty of Nanking, ratified in August 1842, which ceded Hong Kong to the British and opened the five treaty ports to British traders. The marriage of Queen Victoria to her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha took place at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace on 10 February 1840. In 1845, the royal couple set sail in 40

the royal yacht for Germany in order to visit Albert’s homeland of Coburg. The German peepshow of the visit [Cat. 159] carries an English title – ‘Queen Victoria in Germany’ – so Britain rather than Germany may have been judged the most likely market for it. On the front-face the Queen is shown being received at the entrance to a German city, probably Gotha. As noted above, King Ludwig’s favourite project was the building of a canal between the Danube at Kelheim and the Main at Bamberg, thus connecting the Danube basin to the Main basin. Work began on the Ludwig Canal in 1836 and was completed in 1846. Three years before its completion, an advertisement in the Nürnberger Zeitung, 15 June 1843, announced the publication of a teleorama showing the future canal. For once we learn the name of the artist. It is Professor Carl Alexander Heideloff (1789-1865). As a young man Heideloff had become interested in Gothic and Romanesque architecture and had been employed by Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as his architect. In 1818 he was appointed City Architect of Nuremberg and in 1822 he became professor of architecture at the polytechnic school there. As such, he was appointed curator of the city’s historical monuments. He used this position to encourage interest in early German art and rescue a

THE STORY OF PAPER PEEPSHOWS

Plate XXXIX. Peep of a peepshow celebrating progress in building the Ludwig Canal, 1843. [Cat. 157]

number of buildings from destruction. The front-face of his peepshow is richly emblematical [Plate XXXVIII]. It shows a Gothic portal with the arms of Bavaria and the figures of Charlemagne and of ‘our beloved King Ludwig’. To the left and right of the two monarchs are the figures of the Main and the Danube. The Main is shown as a bearded old man, his head crowned with vine leaves. With his right arm he leans on an amphora. A ship’s flag behind him symbolises the importance of the river for trading. On the other side, the female figure of the Danube is sitting. A sailing boat symbolises the importance of this river, and the half moon stands for the region where the river joins the sea. The portal is flanked by a pair of pillars. They are decorated with the arms of the most important towns that border the canal and crowned by the figures of the Virgin and St John the Baptist, patrons of Franconia and Bavaria respectively. ‘The entire scene is in bright colours’, the text explains, ‘symbolising the abundance that Ludwig’s oeuvre will bring to this country’. Copies of the peepshow could be acquired from J.G. Klinger’s art shop and manufactory of artistic toys in Nuremberg. Heideloff’s peepshow is represented in the Spielzeugmuseum, Nuremberg and the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles. The Gestetners do not have it but they do have two states of another peepshow of the Ludwig Canal. This carries the English title, ‘Lewis – Danube - Maine – Channel’ [Cat. 157 and Cat. 162]. The emblematical front-face includes a bust of Ludwig (i.e. Lewis). Ancient Greece being the king’s great passion, he is shown clad in Greek costume and wearing a laurel crown. The peep itself shows a morale-boosting party on the canal, organised by the directors to celebrate the completion of the Bamberg to Nuremberg section of

it. The party seems to be out of hand. A reveller, who has fallen into the water, is hauled on shore by spectators. A train of the Nuremberg-Fürth railway passes over the bridge.

Plate XL. Formal opening of the Thames Tunnel, 15 March 1843, Sir (Marc) Isambard Brunel waving his hat. [Cat. 155]

THE STORY OF PAPER PEEPSHOWS

Plate XLIX. Front-face of Bailey Rawlins’ peepshow of the closing ceremony of the Great Exhibition, 1851. [Cat. 253]

Plate L. ILN wood engraving, the source for Bailey Rawlins’ peepshow of the closing ceremony of the Great Exhibition, 11 Oct. 1851.

THE STORY OF PAPER PEEPSHOWS

Plate LI. Charles Burton’s proposal for converting the Crystal Palace into a winter garden, published by Ackermann & Co. 1852. (Rare Books & Special Collections, British Columbia University Library)

through the ceremony with their children, Bertie and Vicky. That image [Plate LXVIII] had been taken from the ILN too.47 The peep depicts the North Transept; the exhibits there are depicted with care and in laudable detail. On the slip-case of the second Bailey Rawlins peepshow [Cat. 253] is the ILN’s image of Prince Albert at the closing ceremony reading the report of the Exhibition’s success to the members of the Royal Commission [Plate L]. The peep itself depicts the Nave. A third pair of British peepshows of the Great Exhibition are those by Charles Augustus Lane (1802-1882). Lane is described in the 1851 census as a 49-year old manufacturer of fancy goods living at 76 Stanhope Street, St Pancras.48 He called his peepshows ‘telescopic views’. His ‘Telescopic View of the Ceremony of Her Majesty’s Opening the Great Exhibition of All Nations’ [Cat. 254] shows the view looking across the Transept from south to north with the Crystal Fountain on the third cut-out panel and the royal

ceremony taking place under Owen Jones’s baldacchino on the fourth. The preserved elm trees appear on the fifth. The title label tells us that the peepshow was designed by Rawlins. Most probably this was not Bailey Rawlins but the topographical artist, T.J. Rawlins, who was responsible also for ‘Lane’s Telescopic View of the Interior of the Great Industrial Exhibition’ [Cat. 255]. This peepshow, the second in the pair, shows the Nave with the Silk Trophy in the Transept on the fourth cut-out panel. Glitter, so often used on Valentine’s cards, has been applied to the fountains. One of the most ambitious of the British peepshows, it has eight cut-out panels. Following the closure of the Great Exhibition on 15 October 1851, there was the question of what to do with the Crystal Palace. Many felt strongly it should be retained on its Hyde Park site but with a new function. Paxton suggested converting it into a winter garden and elaborated the proposal in his pamphlet, What is to Become of the Crystal Palace? Charles Burton agreed 51

AUSTRIA Cat. 11: [Slip-case title:] Teleorama. No. 1.

Cat. 13: Schützen Fest Platz. [= Marksman Festival Square]

[c.1835?] Hand-coloured etching

Entworfen vom Arch. Hinträger. Gebaut vom Zimmerm. Obermayer jun. u. Gerstle [= Designed by the architect Hinträger. Built by the carpenter Obermayer Junior and Gerstle]. [c.1868]. Vervielfältigung vorbehalten. Genau nach der Originalzeichnung [= Copyright protected. Exactly after the original drawing] Chromolithograph

Accordion-folding peepshow with six cut-out panels, housed in a slip-case. Its cut-out front-face measures 118 x 148 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (t. and b.) to approximately 700 mm. The slip-case is overlaid with orange paper. It has a double thumb-insert. The slip-case label, which is green, carries the title as above. The overlay of the peepshow proper is yellow. The front-face now carries an image consisting of two trees and some water. The peephole is small and circular and sited in the centre of the vacant area between the two trees. White paper has been pasted beneath the title to cover Müller’s imprint. Why this was necessary is not clear: Müller’s firm continued to flourish in the 1840s and after his death was continued by his widow. The images on the cut-out panels and back-scene are new. The first cut-out panel shows two horses with their foals; the second, a seated woman with a small girl on her lap on the left, and a boy petting a dog on the right; the third, a cow herd taking a nap and four cows on the left, and a country girl with goats on the right; the fourth, two children playing with a cat; the fifth, three musicians playing musical instruments and couples dancing outside a tavern; and the sixth, a woman being driven by in an open carriage drawn by four horses. The back-scene consists of a large country house. For other editions see Cat. 1 and Cat. 4. For a reversed lithographic version see Cat. 12.

Cat. 12: [Teleorama?] [Published by Heinrich Friedrich Müller?] [c.1841] Hand-coloured lithograph Accordion-folding peepshow with six cut-out panels, housed in a slip-case. Its cut-out front-face measures 110 x 135 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (t. and b.) to approximately 660 mm. This peepshow of countryside, garden and large country house is in fact a reversed lithographic version of Teleorama No. 1 [Cat. 1]. The original version, and presumably this one too, was published by Heinrich Friedrich Müller. His list of 1841 includes a teleorama of a rural landscape, a beautiful garden, etc., pocket size. (See Der Guckkasten, p.68). Conceivably that teleorama is this. The item is housed in a marble slipcase, and marble paper is pasted on the reverse of the peep-show proper.

Accordion-folding peepshow with a single cut-out panel. The front-face measures 75 x 145 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 210 mm. The front-face consists of the title on a swallow-tailed banderole, and a view of the principal entrance to the Festhalle (=festival hall), the space through the arch constituting the peep-hole. The cut-out panel shows a belvedere on the left, a statue in the centre, and a funerary temple (‘Grabtempel’) on the right. Trees and two targets are printed (unusually) on the inside of the bellows. The festival hall itself appears on the backscene. On the reverse of the back-board is a design consisting of two rifles, a huntsman’s hat, and a bugle. Represents a souvenir of the Third German National Marksmen Festival, Vienna, 26 July - 6 Aug. 1868. The first had taken place in Frankfurt, 1862; and it continued to be held, normally every three years, till 1965. Medals were issued (now very collectable) and a special newspaper was published daily. For another state see Cat. 14.

Cat. 14: Erinnerung an das Dritte deutsche Bundesschiessen, Wien im Juli 1868. [= A souvenir of the Third German National Marksmen Festival, Vienna 1868] Lith. Jg. Böhm, Wien. 1868. Chromolithograph Accordion-folding peepshow with single cut-out panel. The front-face measures 80 x 142 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 180 mm. A variant of Cat. 13. It differs in the following respects: It has a cover with the title as above; the inside of the bellows displays a shooting gallery on the left, and on the right, between the cut-out panel and the back-board. The design consisting of rifles, a huntsman’s hat, and a bugle, now carries the lithographer’s name and appears on the back cover. On a banderole above the cover title appear the words: ‘Ueb ’Aug und Hand fürs Vaterland.’ (= Exercise eye and hand for the Fatherland).

AUSTRIA

Cat. 13. Front-face.

Cat. 14. Front-cover.

FRANCE

Cat. 24. Front-face.

Cat. 24: Optique No. 4 Promenade de Longchamp. [c.1827]. Hand-coloured etching Accordion-folding peepshow with four cut-out panels, housed in a slipcase. The front-face measures 120 x 142 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (t. and b.) to approximately 490 mm.

Cat. 24. The peep.

The title label is pasted on the marbled slip-case. Heavy board is used for the front-face and the back-board. They are overlaid with red paper. The item is overlaid with maroon paper. Straight-grained morocco paper is pasted on the reverse. The view on the front-face is taken from the east end of the Champs-Élysées. On either side are the pedestals supporting the Chevaux de Marly. On the right a street trader, with a canister containing an infusion of herbs attached to his back, takes a rest. Horses in the distance kick up a lot of dust. There is a circular peep-hole in the centre. The front-face would seem to show the scene on no specific date. The cut-out panels and the back-scene, on the other hand, show the scene on the occasion of the Promenade de Longchamp. The spectators on the left verge stand and on those on the right are comfortably seated on chairs. The view looks west up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc de Triomphe still lacks its attic storey: it would be completed in 1836. On either side of the street, liveried coaches advance up and down the boulevard; equestrians confine themselves to the centre, women riding side-saddle. The original owner of the present copy has signed and dated it 1827. KS c.1826-1828. The copies belonging to Alberto Milano and to Erkki Huhtamo both carry the vendor label of ‘Alph: Giroux, Rue du Coq St. Honoré No. 7 à Paris’. A copy formerly in the J&JG Collection carried the label of ‘Werner Rue Vivienne No. 2 bis à Paris’. The premises of Werner, ‘marchand papetier’, stood across the street from the Bibliothèque Nationale and thus in close proximity to the Palais-Royal. David Cox purchased a sketchbook at Werner’s, which he used for many of his Paris drawings. For related hand-drawn copy see Cat. 25. Washington University Libraries, Henrietta Hochschild Collection, have a crude watercolour copy. For a German plagiarism with image reversed see Cat. 79.

FRANCE Cat. 25: [Drawing for â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or after â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Optique No. 4] [c.1827]. Pen and ink and watercolour drawing Accordion-folding peepshow with four cut-out panels. The front-face measures 115 x 145 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (t. and b.), to approximately 450 mm. Crude hand-drawn version of Cat. 24. Where staffage is concerned there are numerous variations. The Arc de Triomphe seems to be crowned with a dome. Whether this is the original drawing for the etching or a copy after the etching has not been established.

oriental costume. On the back-scene is a cedar, and behind it a tall mound. The Botanical Gardens on the banks of the Seine were established in 1626. The mound was built up from public waste and converted into a maze. The Cedar of Lebanon was planted in 1734. The menagerie was transferred to the Jardins des Plantes from Versailles at the time of the Revolution. The giraffe had been presented to Charles X by Mohammed Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, in 1826, and had been walked from Marseilles to Paris, causing a sensation in each town she passed through. She took up residence in the Jardin in 1827. During her first summer she attracted 100,000 visitors, an eighth of the population of Paris. It was her arrival in Paris that surely prompted the publication of this peepshow. KS c.1828.

Cat. 26: Optique No. 5 Jardin des Plantes. [c.1828]. Hand-coloured etching Accordion-folding peepshow with four cut-out panels, housed in a slipcase. The front-face measures 143 x 120 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (t. and b.) to approximately 470 mm. Peepshow of the Botanical Gardens (Jardins des Plantes), Paris. The marbled slip-case carries the title on a label consisting of a banderole. The front face and back-board are overlaid with red paper. The item is overlaid with maroon paper. Straight-grained morocco paper is pasted on the reverse. Heavy board has been used for front-face and back-board. The front-face label design consists of a view of entrance gates, with a lodge on either side, and visitors arriving by foot and in a carriage. On the left, a street trader with a canister on his back dispenses a drink to a boy. The peep-hole is situated in the sky. The peep consists of a view down a tree-lined avenue within the gardens. Visitors parade up and down it. On the second cut-out panel, the bear-pit can be seen on the right; and on the fourth, a giraffe is attended by two men in

Cat. 26. Front-face.

Cat. 26. Expanded.

GERMANY

Cat. 98. Front-face.

Cat. 98. Cartonnage box.

Cat. 98: Der grosse Canal in Venedig./ Le grand canal à Venise./ The great canal at Venise [sic]. [c.1834-1836]. Hand-coloured etching Accordion-folding peepshow with four cut-out panels. The front-face, measuring 122 x 170 mm, forms the lid of the shallow cartonnage box containing the peepshow. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 640 mm. Peepshow of the Grand Canal, Venice. It is overlaid with patriarch purple 132

paper. The sides of the box are overlaid with pattern paper. Yellow paper is pasted on the reverse. The design of the front-face consists of the title in German, French, and English, a circular peep-hole in the centre, and a view of the columns of St Todaro and St Mark with what should be St Mark’s Square behind. In fact the topography in this view is highly inaccurate. On the canal, as represented by the cut-out panels, may be seen a variety of boats for conveying people and goods. The back-scene consists of a view of St Mark’s Square looking towards the Basilica and the Campanile, with the Procuratie Vecchie on the left and the Procuratie Nuove on the right. The cut-out panels are numbered 1-4 at their top right corners. KS c.1834-1836

GERMANY Cat. 99: Carneval. [c.1834-1838]. Hand-coloured lithograph Accordion-folding peepshow with five cut-out panels. The front-face, measuring 140 x 230 mm, forms the lid of the shallow cartonnage box containing the peepshow. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 560 mm. Peepshow showing a winter festival. The item is overlaid with red paper. The sides of the box are overlaid with pattern paper. White sugar paper is pasted on the reverse. The front-face design consists of the title, a view through three arches of the procession with participants and spectators, and three peep-holes, a large one in the centre and a small one on either side. Within the peepshow the cut-out panels are numbered at top right 2-5.

Viewing through the central peep-hole reveals a long flag-bedecked street with the procession winding from one side of the street to the other, wending its way from the back to the front. The spectators view the procession from the roofs of the arcades. Viewing through the small peep-holes reveals the scene down the long arcades. The colouring of the walls of the buildings in the peep, in particular the use of a bright green, is characteristic of several JMB peepshows including Cat. 89 and Cat. 118. Many of the participants are on horseback or are being conveyed on sleighs. The composition adopted is that of Martin Engelbrecht’s ‘Perspektivische Vorstellung des Februars’ (ref.6P). It is unlikely to represent a specific town. February is the month of carnival. For listing of smaller French ‘Optique’ of Paris Carnival see No. 340 in Sporting and Colored Plate Books Original Drawings First Editions… collected by the late George C Smith Jr. (New York: Art Association/Anderson Galleries 1937). KS c.1834-1838

Cat. 99. Expanded.

133

GERMANY

Peepshow of the Crystal Palace. De-luxe version of No. Cat. 183. This state does not have the words ‘A Present’ in its English title. Cat. 185: A Present. Of the Magnificent New Crystallpalace [sic] at Sydenham./ Das Innere des prachtvollen neuen Kristallpalastes zu Sydenham./ L’interieur du nouveau palais de cristall magnitique [sic] à Sydenham. [c.1854]. Hand-coloured lithograph, the colour heightened with gum-arabic. Accordion-folding peepshow, with three cutout panels. The front-face measures 116 x 175 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 360 mm.

Cat. 186. Front-face. For this item with an extension see Plates LXXII and LXXIII.

Cat. 183: Interior of the Magnificent New Crystallpalace [sic] at Sydenham. A Present./ Das Innere des prachtvollen neuen KristallPalastes zu Sÿdenham./ L’interieur du nouveau palais de cristal magnifique à Sydenham.

Crudely drawn and coloured peepshow, consisting of an interior view of the Crystal Palace showing visitors, tropical plants, statues, and fountains. The front-face design consists of the titles (English in the centre, German on the left, and French on the right.), a view of the exterior of the building and the gardens, and the circular peep-hole, all framed with embossed gilt (now oxidised) overlay strips. The item is overlaid with yellow paper. The representation of the interior of the building is totally inaccurate. The image of the interior is basically that on Cat. 179.

[c.1854]. Hand-coloured lithograph Accordion-folding peepshow, with four cut-out panels. The front-face measures 150 x 185 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 660 mm. Crudely drawn and coloured peepshow of the Crystal Palace. The item is overlaid with yellow paper. Its front-face design consists of the titles (English in the centre, German on the left and French on the right), an image of the exterior of the building with terraces, fountains and figures, and the circular peep-hole, all within a frame of gilt embossed overlay strips. The staffage includes a landau approaching from the left. The group on the right includes a man on horseback. The peep consists of an interior view of the Crystal Palace. Where the exhibits are concerned, the artist has used his imagination freely: items are displayed on tables running round the edge of the structure. The words ‘A Present’ appear to have been added to the image. For deluxe version of the peepshow, without the words ‘A Present’, see Cat. 184.

Cat. 184: Interior of the Magnificent New Crystallpalace [sic] at Sydenham./ Das Innere des prachtvollen neuen Kristall=Palastes zu Sÿdenham./ L’Interieur du nouveau palais de cristal magnifique à Sydenham. [c.1854]. Hand-coloured lithograph Accordion-folding peepshow, with four cut-out panels. The front-face, measuring 145 x 180 mm, forms the lid to the shallow cartonnage box containing the peepshow. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 590 mm. Housed in what appears to be its original pasteboard box.

172

Cat. 186: La Cathédrale de Notre-Dame à Paris./ The Cathedral of Our-Woman in Paris. [c.1855]. Hand-coloured line engraving with etching. Accordion-folding peepshow with seven cut-out panels. The front-face, measuring 182 x 240 mm, forms the lid of the shallow cartonnage box containing peepshow. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 700 mm. The item is overlaid with terra-cotta red paper. Its front-face design consists of the cathedral’s West Front, minus its towers. Each of the three doorways has a pair of doors, which open inwards and thus serve as peep-holes. By peeping through the central doors, one has a view of the nave with the choir and the apse in the distance; and by peeping through the doors on either side, one can view the north aisle and the south aisle and the cathedral’s side chapels. The cut-out panels are numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The sides of the box are overlaid with pattern paper. Blue-grey sugar paper pasted on reverse. Housed with this peepshow is a colour photocopy of an extension to this peepshow. This extension was designed to be attached to the top of the front-face by the insertion of the tab at bottom centre. It shows the gallery on the West Front and the two towers. At bottom centre appear the words: ‘Die Kirche von Notre Dame in Paris’. The cathedral’s West Front is poorly represented; the interior bears almost no resemblance to the actual building. On the back of the peepshow is an inscription reading: ‘[…] Russell Corfield from Aunty [?] & Aunty Bessie 19 February 1884’. However, the peepshow must be earlier than that date.

GERMANY

Cat. 187. Front-face.

Cat. 187. The peep.

Cat. 187: Interior of the Magnificent New Crystallpalace [sic] at Sydenham. / Das Innere des prachtvollen neuen Kristallpalastes zu Sydenham./ L’intereur du nouveau palais de cristall Magnifique à Sydenham. [c.1856]. Hand-coloured lithograph

Cat. 186. Expanded.

Accordion-folding peepshow, with four cut-out panels. The front-face, measuring 162 x 200 mm, forms the lid to the shallow cartonnage box containing the peepshow. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 630 mm. The item is overlaid with pink paper and the sides of the box with textured yellow paper. Blue-grey sugar paper is pasted on the reverse. The design of the front-face consists of the titles (English in the centre, German on the left, and French on the right), a circular peep-hole, and a view of the exterior of the Crystal Palace showing the fountains but also a passenger train. The image is ‘framed’ by embossed gilt overlay strips. The peep consists of a view inside the Crystal Palace, with visitors, tropical plants, and statues. The back-scene is very perspectival and suggests a building of enormous length. The inclusion of the train on the front-face suggests that getting to the Crystal Place was simple. Initially it was not. The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway’s Low Level Station at the Crystal Palace was not opened until 1856, two years after the opening of the building. The London, Chatham & Dover Railway’s High Level Station would not be opened until 1865. The view of the interior as shown on the peepshow proper closely resembles that on Cat. 179. It is totally inaccurate.

Cat. 186. Back-face.

173

GREAT BRITAIN

Cat. 208. Slip-case.

of the Thames Tunnel in section. A vendor’s green label on the reverse of the slip-case reads: ‘W. & A. Essex, Bazaar, Nos. 333, 4, 5, & 6 Soho Square.’ (W. & A. Essex were no doubt related to the publisher of peepshows – C. Essex). The front-face supplies the title, a note explaining the shutter illustration, statistics, imprint, etc. It has a large oval peep-hole in the centre. The upper shutter shows shipping on the Thames; the lower shutter illustrates a transverse section of the Tunnel with ‘the hole in the bed of the River, which Inundated the works 18 May 1827, and the manner in which it is stop’d with bags of Clay &c.’ On extending the peepshow, the Tunnel is shown as intended – used by vehicles as well as pedestrians. The first cut-out panel shows the staircases for pedestrians, with figures descending on either side; a solitary man is shown in the left archway. On the second cut-out panel, the left archway is empty; in the right archway, an equestrian rides in the direction of the far end past a female pedestrian. In the third cut-out panel, an equestrian rides towards us in the left archway; a cart is driven away from us in the right archway. A coach comes towards us in the left archway of the fourth cut-out panel; a cab (lacking its driver) drives away from us in the right archway. In the fifth cut-out panel, a coach comes towards us in the left archway; a cab drives away from us in the right archway. On the back-scene, a coach comes towards us in the left archway; a wagon heads away from us in the right archway. Lamp posts are shown between the columns. The figures on the second to fifth cutout panel have been pasted into their positions. Attached near the top of the front-face and the back-board are ties, probably added later; their purpose is unclear. The words ‘Pubd. Decr. 1828’ appear on the slip-case label of a copy with MRB May 2011. For a later state see Cat. 213. Abbey, Life, 502; The Triumphant Bore, 146.

Cat. 209: Tunnel under The Thames as it will appear when finished, 600 feet already completed. [c.1828]. Ink wash and watercolour Accordion-folding peepshow, with five cut-out panels. The front-face measures 115 x 137 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (t. and b.) to approximately 610 mm.

Cat. 208. Front-face.

Cat. 208: A View of the Tunnel under the Thames, as it will appear when completed. Pubd. Feb. 1 1828 by S.F. Gouyn, 7, Fish St. Hill [London]. 1828. Hand-coloured aquatint. Accordion-folding peepshow, with five cut-out panels, housed in a slip-case. The front-face measures 115 x 145 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (t. and b.) to approximately 620 mm. Ribbons attached to front-face and back-board, perhaps to stretch out the peepshow to its full extent. Peepshow of the Thames Tunnel. The label on the front of the brown slipcase carries the text: ‘A View of the Tunnel under the Thames. Price 2s. Superior Edition 3s. Pubd. Feby. 1828’. It also carries an oval view consisting of Rotherhithe with St Mary’s Church and the twin archways 184

Peepshow of the Thames Tunnel. The front-face and the back-board consist of white board. The front-face carries the title and an explanatory note about the shutter illustration. The style of the script seems to be the same as that on Cat. 200. It has a large oval peep-hole in the centre. The upper shutter shows a scene above the water, the lower shutter a section of the Tunnel with ‘the hole in the bed of the River, which Inundated the works 18th of May 1827, and the manner in which it is stop’d with bags of Clay &c.’ On extending the peepshow, the Tunnel is shown as intended – being used by vehicles as well as pedestrians. The vehicles in the left archway advance towards us, those in the right archway head away from us. Lampposts are shown against the central columns on the second to fifth cut-out panels and on the back-scene. The first cut-out panel shows the staircases for pedestrians; figures are ascending/descending on left and right. In the left archway is a woman; in the right archway are two men. On the second cut-out panel, a coach is being drawn by two horses in the left archway; there is a cab in the right archway. On the third cut-out panel in the left archway is a woman and what seems to be a cart in which several men are riding; in the right archway, there is a cab and a single pedestrian. On the fourth cut-out panel there is a female pedestrian and an equestrian in the left archway; in the right archway is a cab and a single pedestrian. Ditto in the fifth cut-out panel. On the back-scene, there is a carriage in the left archway; in the right archway is a single pedestrian and a wagon. The figures on the cut-out panels have been pasted on. A manuscript note on the reverse of the back card reads: ‘Louise Williams the gift of Miss Bowles 1836’. The text on the front-face and below the shutter image is derived from Cat. 208; the rest represents a manuscript copy of Cat. 195.

GREAT BRITAIN

Cat. 210. Expanded.

Cat. 210. Front-face.

Cat. 210. The peep.

Cat. 210: Wonders of Cheltenham. [c.1828?]. Watercolour drawing Accordion-folding peepshow with ten cut-out panels. The front-face measures 155 x 185 mm. The peepshow expands by muslin bellows (t. and b.) to approximately 880 mm, the muslin being attached to the front-face, cut-out panels, and the back-board by crude stitches. Home-made peepshow of Old Well Walk, Cheltenham. The front-face design consists of the title, curtains left and right, and a circle with radiating lines giving the effect of a telescope. The peep-hole, fitted with

a lens, reinforces the desired illusion. In the distance, on the back-scene, is the spire of St Mary’s Church. Crescent Terrace, erected in the 1820s and shown on Lamb’s Cheltenhamoramas [Cat. 226 and Cat. 227], is not shown. The cut-out panels present polite strolling figures, musicians seated round a table playing their instruments, a parson, a carriage, wicket fences, arches, and gates. Though the detail on it is entirely different, the subject of this peepshow is the same as that on Lamb’s Cheltenhamoramas. This prompts one to ask whether this watercolour peepshow could be the work of Henry Lamb, or whether it was the item that inspired Lamb to produce his printed peepshows. Possibly it was by the same artist as for Cat. 219, which uses similar material for its bellows. 185

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Cat. 340: My Garden from Weeding Height. Lois Morrison del. 1993. Offset litho. Accordion-folding peepshow mounted within book-type covers measuring 110 x 210 mm. Five cut-out panels. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (t. and b.) to approximately 220 mm. The cut-out front-face consists of luxuriant vegetation, as do each of the cut-out panels and the back-scene. The vegetation on the cut-out panels spills out of the sides. A note inside the front cover reads: ‘Printed with a Gocco printer on Levor 100 and Masa. The cover is vintage chicken-feed sack. Of an edition of 25 this is # 22. Drawings © 1993 Lois Morrison.’

Cat. 341: peter norton family christmas project ... by Anna Gaskell. made by Intervisual Communications, Inc. 2001. Half-tone

Cat. 340. Expanded.

Accordion-folding peepshow, with five cut-out panels. The front-face measures 152 x 177 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 250 mm. Double-ended peepshow. The front and back covered with cloth. The frontface is blank with a peep-hole slightly lower than centre. Title, artist, and maker appear on the back. An explanatory note on a separate card tells us: ‘Each year the Peter Norton Family commissions an art edition to celebrate the Christmas and holiday season. Gaskell was born in 1969 in Des Moines, Iowa, and currently lives in New York City. Her works create imaginary worlds of fairy tales and myths populated by mysterious, haunting female figures... As we look through the peep hole to the scene inside the bellows we see a deep mossy well inhabited by siren-like figures gesturing towards a floating body that appears to be beyond their grasp. When we flip the object and look through the back this soul returns our stare. The photographs for this project were taken by Gaskell at the Netherworld Well on the grounds of Villa Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal. The design of the well and surrounding gardens are based on Dante’s “Inferno”.’ The publication is housed in a silk-tied portfolio, which is too small to protect the item properly.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Cat. 342: Travel Guide Series Florence. Laura Davidson 2003, Boston, Massachusetts 2003. Offset litho. Accordion-folded peepshow, with four cut-out panels, measuring 130 x 176 mm, extending by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 100 mm. Peepshow of Florence. The peepshow has been created by cutting a large rectangular hole in a section of a guide-book. Thus the front-face consists of relevant but apparently mutilated text. The cut-out panels for later pages also consists of text but are overdrawn in part by topographical detail. The back-scene consists of a map of the district. On the reverse of the item, a label has been printed as on pattern paper. Its text reads: ‘Travel Guide Series Florence. This book shows a view of the city of Florence from the steps of the church of San Miniato al Monte. The images were painted on reproduced pages from Muirhead’s Blue Guides and Baedeker’s travel guides originally published in the 1920’s. It is the first in a series that incorporate old travel guidebooks and maps. This is copy 350 from an edition of 500’.

Cat. 343: Take a Peek at Seurat’s masterpiece! A Sunday on La Grande Jatte Tunnel Book. Cat. 344. Front.

[Designed by Joan Sommers] The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60603... Printed and assembled in China. [2004]. Offset litho. Accordion-folding peepshow with four cut-out panels. The front-face measures 150 x 210 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to approximately 350 mm. A peepshow disguised as a book, with its title on the front cover and imprint, notes about the artist and tunnel books, and a diagram on the back. Further notes on Seurat appear inside the front cover. Opening the front cover reveals the front-face with its rectangular peephole. By lifting the front-face the peepshow is revealed.

Cat. 344: The Dancing Skeletons Tunnel Book./ Gran Balle de Calaveras.

Cat. 344. Portfolio closed.

Text and design: Joan Sommers Design, Chicago Il. Tunnel Vision Books, 5310 N. Magnolia Ave., Chicago, Il. 60640… Printed and assembled in China. Distributed to the trade by Independent Publisher’s Group. Price $14.95. 2006. Offset litho. Accordion-folding peepshow with four cut-out panels. The front-face measures 156 x 180 mm. The peepshow expands by paper bellows (l. and r.) to 260 mm. Peepshow with portfolio format, the wings, front-face and back-board consisting of heavy board. The portfolio opens by disengaging the die-cut jigsaw-like tab on the reverse. Once the peepshow is expanded the two wings can be folded back to give support. In this state, the peepshow can then be stood upright and the peep can be examined through the large melinex window on the front. The title appears on the tunnel-book’s ‘spine’ and ‘fore-edge’. Another

title beginning, ‘Take a Peek at Posado’s Colaveros!’ appears on a sticky circular label attached at top right. On the first cut-out panel, a male skeleton musician to the left plays his instrument, while a female skeleton to the right fries tortillas. On the second, skeletons dance the fandango. On the third, a male skeleton on the left begs a female skeleton for the favour of a dance; on the right, two elderly ‘wallflower’ skeletons sit on chairs watching the proceedings. On the fourth, a small skeleton swings from the ceiling. The back-scene consists of the gaping jaws of Hell. Within the jaws, Satan sits enthroned. The peepshow is accompanied by a 15-page booklet that slides into a slot on the reverse of the back-board. This describes the scene as ‘an all-night party to celebrate the return of the dead to the land of the living. These comical skeletons’, it explains, ‘were created by the famous Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada for the holiday, Dia de los Muertos…’ Three Posada posters from the Art Institute of Chicago are reproduced in the booklet. 231

APPENDIX 1 / PEEPSHOW VIEW-BOXES

Cat. 357. Slides and view-box expanded.

Cat. 357: Constantinople. G.W.F. [i.e. G. W. Faber] & W. [lithographers] [Published by A. & S. Joseph, Myers & Co., 1854] Hand-coloured lithograph. Wooden box measuring 175 x 265 mm, which constitutes a peepshow and accommodates two cut-out panels and a set of 27 slides. The top of the box constitutes the peepshow’s front-face. The back of the box consists of a sliding panel. The peepshow expands from the box by canvas straps (l. and r.) to 220 mm. Peepshow manufactured in Germany. It represents Thomas Allom’s ‘Moving Panorama of the Dardanelles, Constantinople, and the Bosphorus.’ Allom’s show panorama, painted with the assistance of George Gordon, Hubert Desvignes, and William Roxby Beverley, was exhibited at the Polyorama, 309 Regent Street in 1850-1851. In 1854, on the outbreak of war in the Crimea, it was acquired and re-exhibited by Albert Smith at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, with Joachim Stocqueler as lecturer on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The views were based on drawings that Allom had made when visiting Turkey in 1837, the initial purpose of his trip being to provide plates for a volume entitled Constantinople and the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, published by Fisher, Son & Co. in 1838. In the panorama show, the concluding view was Constantinople by Moonlight, which Beverley painted. The front-face displays the national flags and pennants of Britain and France against a shield surmounted by a crescent, the emblem representing Turkey; in other words, the three allies in the Crimean War. This arrangement appears in the sky of a view from a point near the Süleymaniye Mosque above the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, i.e. from the European sector of Constantinople, 238

looking across the Bosphorus to the sector of Constantinople in Asia. Below the flags in the centre appears the glazed peep-hole. It has a brass rim. Beneath this is the title. The image and the flags are highlighted with gum-arabic. The first cut-out panel is pasted onto a wooden frame. It shows the audience and the proscenium arch, presumably as at the Egyptian Hall. The second is pasted onto a deeper frame. This has a narrow slot to successively accommodate the slides when viewing, and a wider slot that serves as a store for the slides when the toy is not being played with. It shows local flora as arranged at the front of the stage. Each slide is equipped with a cloth tab at top centre to facilitate its extraction. The images on the slides are highlighted with gum-arabic. The slides carry the following titles: ‘Dardanelles’, ‘The Pilgrim’s Boat’, ‘Galata, the approach to Constantinople’, ‘Constantinople, Golden Horn’, ‘The Hippodrome and Mosque of Achmet’, ‘The Sublime Porte’, ‘The Sultan going to prayer - Mosque of Eyoub’, ‘The Slave Market’, ‘The Bazaar’, ‘Valley of Sweet Waters’, ‘Mosque of Shah Zadek’, ‘Turkisch [sic] Bath’, ‘Court-Yard of the Mosque of Salimanich’, ‘The Dogs of Constantinople’, ‘Cemetry [sic]’, ‘Mosque of St. Sophia’, ‘Coffee-House’ (incorporating transparency), ‘The subterranicus Cistern’, ‘High up the Golden Horn. Sultan’s Barge’, ‘Gun foundry at Tophana’, ‘Tophana. Market place & fountain’, ‘The Seraglio Gardens’, ‘Bosphorus. Summer palace of the Sultan’, ‘Castle of Europa’, ‘The Entrance of the Blach [sic] Sea’, ‘Constantinople by Moonlight’ (incorporating transparency). N.B. There is nothing to indicate the order in which the slides should be viewed. The sliding panel at the back of the box carries the label of ‘W.E. Statham, operative chemist, optician, &c. Royal Panopticon, Leicester Square’. Conceivably, this toy was manufactured by Carl Adler in Hamburg, prompted by Joseph, Myers & Co. At this date, Joseph, Myers & Co. were marketing a number of Adler’s publications. Hints of German involvement include the map slide that shows the ‘Meer von Marmara’, and misspellings of ‘Turkish’, ‘Cemetery’, and ‘Black Sea’.

APPENDIX 1 / PEEPSHOW VIEW-BOXES Cat. 358: Albert Smith’s Mont Blanc and China every Evening 8 ... O’Glock [sic]. [repeated] [G.W. Faber, lithographer?] [c.1858]. Hand-coloured lithographs Wooden box measuring 195 x 235 x 51 mm, which constitutes a peepshow and accommodates two cut-out panels and a set of slides. The top of the box constitutes the peepshow’s front-face. The back of the box consists of a sliding panel. The peepshow expands from the box by canvas straps (l. and r.) to 230 mm. Peepshow of Albert Smith’s moving panorama, ‘Mont Blanc to China’, exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London, from 22 December 1858 to 5 April 1860. The front-face design consists of a coloured lithographic view of the Piccadilly façade to the Egyptian Hall. The title takes the form of three posters, occupying the building’s two blind windows at first floor level and the space between the statues of Isis and Osiris. There is a single, glass peep-hole in the centre with a brass ring. The first cut-out panel is pasted onto a wooden frame. It consists of the audience. The second is pasted onto a deeper frame, with a narrow slot to successively accommodate the slides when viewing, and a wider slot that serves as a store for the slides when the toy is not being played with. The second cut-out panel consists of the show’s proscenium arch, which was decorated in the manner of a Cantonese flower-garden pavilion. Seventeen slides are provided. Each is a hand-coloured lithograph pasted on card and is equipped with a cloth tab at top centre to facilitate its extraction. The slides represent the various views on the panorama, painted by, or under the direction of, William Roxby Beverley. They consist of: ‘The Deck of the Peninsular and Oriental Steamer’; ‘Shepheard Hotel at Cairo’; ‘The Sphynx and the Pyramids’; ‘A Street in Cairo’; ‘The Desert Railway’; ‘City and Harbour of Victoria, Hong Kong’; ‘A Waterside Bazaar, Hong Kong’; ‘The old European Factories at Canton’; ‘The Bogue Forts on the Canton River’; ‘The Shipping Canton River’; ‘Howquar’s Gardens near Canton’; ‘A chinese [sic] Waiting Room’; ‘Preraphaelite Pictorial Panoramas. I’; ‘Preraphaelite Pictorial Panoramas. II’; ‘Chinese Shops’; ‘Singapore.’ (The ‘Preraphaelite Pictorial Panoramas’ are drawn in the spirit of the willow pattern). The titles appear in black letter

Cat. 358. View-box expanded.

typeface. In addition there is an untitled slide with a scene in a roundel, also drawn in the spirit of the willow pattern. The roundel is flanked by Chinese figures. Roundel and figures are enclosed in a border with a pattern intended to resemble Chinese script. For his China trip, see To China and Back, Being a Diary Kept, Out and Home (London: Published for the author and to be had of Messrs Chapman & Hall [1859]), and To China and Back, Being a Diary Kept, Out and Home, by Albert Smith (London: Published for the author [1859]). Inside the front cover of the first version in the J&JG Collection is a pencil note: ‘Very rare - most copies were lost at sea between Hong Kong and England’. The copy in the Getty Institute lacks the ‘Singapore’ slide. Probably, like the ‘Ascent of Mont Blanc’ and ‘Constantinople’ peepshows, this peepshow is by G. W. Faber but his initials have been covered up. Lit: Altick, pp. 473-478.

Cat. 358. Slides.

239

ISBN: 978-1-85149-800-0

ËxHSLIPBy498000zv&:):^:&:+ £45.00/$89.50