In the 18th century, the small rural town Cheltenham enjoyed a boost of popularity thanks to its spa water dispensary. The original Cheltenham spa was the Old Well, which quickly became renowned for its healing virtues following its discovery by local farmer William Mason in 1716. The retired sea captain Henry Skilicorne developed it into an attraction in the late 1730s to 1740s, adding to the site the Old Well Walk, a 900 yard-long avenue of elm trees. The spa became the ‘Royal Well’ or ‘King’s Well’ after King George III came to take the waters from it, and its fortunes were further boosted by this royal endorsement.

This paper peepshow is one of two published by Henry Lamb in the Gestetner Collection, both on the same topic (Gestetner 227, see references). Although the front-face is different, the composition of the cut-out panels, as well as the figures and the back panel, is very similar to that in Gestetner 227. Henry Lamb was a Cheltenham artist and print seller. He published two sets of prints entitled ‘Views of Cheltenham and its Vicinity’, one ca. 1825 and the other in 1833. The Old Well featured in both sets, and the paper peepshow clearly echoes its tree-lined Old Well Walk.

The paper peepshow might therefore have been produced as a kind of variation on the print. By adopting similar imageries in the paper peepshow, Lamb re-packaged the view of the Old Well in a different format to attract the attention of those interested in novelty. That might also explain his coinage of the word ‘Cheltenhamorama.’ By linking the paper peepshow with other popular optical entertainment of the period, most, if not all of which bore the suffix ‘-orama,’ Lamb advertised his work as part of this novel kind of visual media.