The Great Exhibition in 1851 was the first international exhibition of manufactured products. Organised by Henry Cole and Prince Albert, it was held in the purpose-built Crystal Palace in Hyde Park in London. Many of the objects in the Exhibition were used as the first collection for the South Kensington Museum which opened 1857 and later became the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The Exhibition spurred great international interest, and was one of the two most popular subjects of the paper peepshow in nineteenth century, the other one being the Thames Tunnel. Like the Thames Tunnel, the Great Exhibition became the topic of a large variety of souvenirs, including many optical toys. In this paper peepshow, the exhibits on the cut-out panels are a selection of the highlights on display at the Crystal Palace, and would not have lined up in this way in reality. It appears then that the publisher Charles Augustus Lane is less concerned with representing the Great Exhibition accurately than with giving the users a sweeping impression of the spectacle.

Lane was a manufacturer of fancy goods, and produced a number of paper peepshows on different topics in the 1850s. Ambitious among British peepshows of its time, this work has eight cut-out panels and gum arabic on the front-face to heighten the colours. The glitter applied to the fountains also indicates the publisher’s intention of marketing the paper peepshow as a more luxurious item.