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The Great Exhibition of 1851
 Dickinson's
Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851,
Dickinson Brothers, London, 1854.
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The Great Exhibition of 1851, featuring the Crystal Palace,
was the first of the international expositions that became
all the rage in the latter part of the century and one of
the most spectacular events to take place in Britain in the
1800s. Held in London, the exposition attracted some 14,000
exhibitors, who occupied the Crystal Palace's 990,000
square feet of floor space. The grandeur of the Crystal Palace
and the exposition's diverse displays are revealed
for the modern reader's enjoyment in Dickinson's
Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Both the exposition and this published account were intended
to be encyclopedic in their presentation of the countries
of the world and their cultures, resources, industries, and
products at that moment in history. There is written commentary
on every aspect of the exposition, and the volume's
fifty-five large chromolithographic plates are visual documentation
of the wonders that drew more than six million visitors.
Among the Great Exhibition's most amazing attractions
was the Crystal Palace itself. The modular, wrought-iron
and glass structure soared skyward to an interior height
of 408 feet, allowing the incorporation of large trees in
the landscaping of the central corridor. As Dickinson's
pictures of the Crystal Palace illustrate, the extraordinary
size of the building, the glass walls, and the careful placement
of the foliage blurred the boundaries between interior and
exterior space.
The Crystal Palace was a mark of British wealth and accomplishment,
and the international exhibition it housed provided a preview
of the global industrialization that would characterize the
rest of the century.
After the Great Exhibition ended, the Crystal Palace was
dismantled and rebuilt at Sydenham Hill, where it served
as a venue for concerts, exhibitions, and other public entertainments
until it was damaged beyond repair by fire in 1936.
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