The Thames 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.

Bondy Azulay was one of the two main makers and sellers of Thames Tunnel paper peepshows after its completion, the other being T. C. Brandon. This piece does not adopt Azulay’s usual format of housing the paper peepshow in the book cover, and is one of the few Thames Tunnel works that only represent one archway (another example in the collection is Gestetner 239, (see references). As expected from Azulay, this paper peepshow is not of the highest quality. The figures on the two cut-out panels is almost identical, and crudely cut and pasted on, with colouring in rough dabs. The London Metropolitan Archives holds a similar work, although with larger, and more numerous cut-out panels, as well as a few paragraphs of introduction to the Tunnel. Ralph Hyde mentions that paper peepshows sold by Azulay were priced at one, two, three or four shillings, depending on the quality. The two versions of essentially the same work were probably created to target audiences with varying budgets.