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[Thames Tunnel]

Paper Peepshow
ca. 1843 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The Thame Tunnel was one of the most popular subjects for British paper peepshows, which were produced throughout the period of its construction and beyond. The Tunnel’s construction started in 1825, and after various flood accidents and a long period of suspension of work between 1828 and 1835, the Tunnel finally opened to the public on 25 March 1843. It was received with great excitement both during and immediately after its construction, which explains why it remained a popular topic for the paper peepshow for so long. Yet the glory of the Tunnel did not last for very long and, in 1865 it was sold to the East London Railway Company, and converted into a railway tunnel in 1869. Today the Tunnel forms part of the London Overground network.

T. C. Brandon was one of the two main sellers of Thames Tunnel paper peepshows after its completion, the other being Bondy Azulay. The two collaborated closely on the production of Thames Tunnel paper peepshows. The print on the front-face in this work, for example, was at some point adopted by Azulay, who also repeated Brandon’s explanation paragraph, seen here inside the paper wallet.

This paper peepshow is typical of Brandon's designs. The paper wallet marks his break with the more traditional paper peepshow slipcase. The execution of the work is very crude: colours are hardly kept within the outline, and figures are pasted on and repetitive. Ralph Hyde has identified that some of the figures comes from what is possibly a construction sheet in the Noble Collection at the London Metropolitan Archives (p. 46). Brandon’s peepshows were cheap touristic tat. Yet in the explanation paragraph he pompously refers to himself as 'Perspective View Manufacturer.' Perspective View was not the name commonly adopted for the paper peepshow during this period, and more commonly referred to the finer quality engravings used with the zograscope in eighteenth-century affluent households. By branding himself in this way, Brandon intended to add some lustre to his product.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Title[Thames Tunnel] (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Brief description
[Thames Tunnel], Brandon, T. C., ca. 1843.
Physical description
Accordion-style paper peepshow of the Thames Tunnel.

3 cut-out panels. 2 peep-holes. Hand-coloured steel engraving and aquatint. Bound inside a wallet of glazed paper. Expands to approximately 54 cm.

Front cover: pink pattern paper. On the inside is a printed page titled ‘An Explanation of the Tunnel under the Thames,’ mentioning Queen Victoria’ s visit to the Tunnel, its construction history, date of opening, and the publisher’s details.

Front-face: View of the Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s visit to the Tunnel on 26 July 1843, from a print by the same publisher. The image shows Victoria and Albert about to disembark from a ceremonial barge at Wapping, and the crowds on the quay. Entrance building for the Tunnel and the Irving & Brown Coal Wharf in the background. At the top of the print is the line: ‘1200 feet long, 76 feet below high water mark was 8 years building and cost £440,000. Opened March 25, 1843.’ The peep-holes consist of the two circular openings in the centre.

Panels 1 – 3 and back panel: pedestrians in the left and right archways of the Tunnel. The reverse side of the back panel is stuck to the paper wallet.
Dimensions
  • Paper wallet height: 20cm
  • Paper wallet width: 14cm
  • Fully extended length: 54cm
  • Front face height: 13.8cm
  • Front face width: 19cm
Credit line
Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from the collections of Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2016.
Object history
Part of the Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Collection, collected over 30 years and given to the V&A Museum through the government's Cultural Gift Scheme, 2016.
Summary
The Thame Tunnel was one of the most popular subjects for British paper peepshows, which were produced throughout the period of its construction and beyond. The Tunnel’s construction started in 1825, and after various flood accidents and a long period of suspension of work between 1828 and 1835, the Tunnel finally opened to the public on 25 March 1843. It was received with great excitement both during and immediately after its construction, which explains why it remained a popular topic for the paper peepshow for so long. Yet the glory of the Tunnel did not last for very long and, in 1865 it was sold to the East London Railway Company, and converted into a railway tunnel in 1869. Today the Tunnel forms part of the London Overground network.

T. C. Brandon was one of the two main sellers of Thames Tunnel paper peepshows after its completion, the other being Bondy Azulay. The two collaborated closely on the production of Thames Tunnel paper peepshows. The print on the front-face in this work, for example, was at some point adopted by Azulay, who also repeated Brandon’s explanation paragraph, seen here inside the paper wallet.

This paper peepshow is typical of Brandon's designs. The paper wallet marks his break with the more traditional paper peepshow slipcase. The execution of the work is very crude: colours are hardly kept within the outline, and figures are pasted on and repetitive. Ralph Hyde has identified that some of the figures comes from what is possibly a construction sheet in the Noble Collection at the London Metropolitan Archives (p. 46). Brandon’s peepshows were cheap touristic tat. Yet in the explanation paragraph he pompously refers to himself as 'Perspective View Manufacturer.' Perspective View was not the name commonly adopted for the paper peepshow during this period, and more commonly referred to the finer quality engravings used with the zograscope in eighteenth-century affluent households. By branding himself in this way, Brandon intended to add some lustre to his product.
Bibliographic reference
R. Hyde, Paper Peepshows. The Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Collection (Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors' Club, 2015), cat. 240.
Other number
38041016058802 - NAL barcode
Collection
Library number
Gestetner 240

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Record createdAugust 22, 2018
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