Although this paper peepshow has a generic title, it actually depicts the Lord Mayor’s Show in London, which would feature the ceremonial barges shown on the cut-out panels. This work is executed with high quality, as indicated by the sharp outlines, vibrant colours, and meticulous details. In 1215, King John issued a Royal Charter allowing the City of London to elect its own Mayor every year, with an important condition that every year the newly elected Mayor must travel from the City to Westminster to swear loyalty to the crown. About a century later the Mayor became the Lord Mayor, and by the sixteenth century, Lord Mayor’s journey had already become so splendid and popular that it was known as the Lord Mayor’s Show. The Lord Mayor’s Show has continued for over 800 years without disruption, even when its date and route have gone through multiple changes, and the barge the Lord Mayor travelled in is now a stage coach.

Samuel Williams Fuller and his brother Joseph Carr Fuller were the publishers of this work. In 1809 they opened their shop to trade as publishers, printsellers and stationers, manufacturers, and artists’ colourmen, and their business became very successful during Regency and early Victorian period. Two other paper peepshows in the collection (Gestetner 193 and Gestetner 207) share the same features, (see references). S & J Fuller used the word ‘Areaorama’ in the title of Gestetner 193 too, a term coined by combining area with with ‘-orama,’ the popular suffix for optical devices in this period.