- Title:
- [Thames Tunnel]
- Object name(s):
- Paper peepshow
- Brief description:
- Accordion-style paper peepshow of the Thames Tunnel as it would appear when completed. 7 cut-out panels. 1 peep-hole. 1 removable slide. Hand-coloured line engraving. In a slipcase. Expands to approximately 75 cm. Slipcase: scene of the tunnelling shield and men working. Two men wearing top hats are observing the work on the left. Front-face: Pink paper on which the design of Gothic tracery is printed. The design is heightened with blue wash. The peep-hole consists of the opening in the central arch. The bottom half of the arch is covered by a shutter, which is worn. Panel 1: a man descending the stairs on the left; a man in the right archway; a man ascending the stairs on the right. Panel 2: two workmen conversing and a man walking by in the left archway; two men conversing and a couple walking by in the right archway. Panel 3: a couple and a two-horse drawn coach with three passengers in the left archway; two workmen in the right archway, one with a wheel-barrel. Panel 4: two equestrians in the left archway; a man and a four-horse drawn coach with several passengers in the right archway. Panel 5: a man with a wagon in the left archway; a man and an equestrian trying to tame another horse in the right archway. Panel 6: a seated man, an equestrian and a man walking in the left archway; a couple and a one-horse drawn coach with two passengers in the right archway. Panel 7: a man and a two-horse drawn coach with three passengers in the left archway; three men in military uniform conversing in the right archway. Back panel: a coach and several passengers, and many pedestrians in the left archway; a wagon and pedestrians in the right archway. The reverse side is pasted with a decorative pink paper label. Removable slide: scene of the tunnelling shield and men working. Two men wearing top hats are observing the work on the left.
- Collection:
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Associated concept:
- National Art Library
- Associated concept:
- Optical toys
- Associated concept:
- Paper Peepshow
- Associated concept:
- Thames Tunnel
- 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.
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 14.4
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 17.8
- Dimension:
- Length
- Dimension measured part:
- fully extended
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 75
- Material:
- paper
- Object history note:
- Percy Mury (in a red buckram portfolio, which indicates that it came from the collection of Percy Muir. Inscription in gold on the spine: ‘Thames Tunnel.’) 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.
- Object name:
- Paper peepshow
- Object number:
- Gestetner 121
- Object production date:
- ca. 1835
- Date - association:
- published
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1830-01-01
- Date - latest:
- 1839-12-31
- Object production person:
- JMB
- Person's association:
- publisher
- Object production place:
- Germany
- Other number:
- 38041016035370
- Other number type:
- NAL barcode
- Physical description:
- Accordion-style paper peepshow of the Thames Tunnel as it would appear when completed. 7 cut-out panels. 1 peep-hole. 1 removable slide. Hand-coloured line engraving. In a slipcase. Expands to approximately 75 cm. Slipcase: scene of the tunnelling shield and men working. Two men wearing top hats are observing the work on the left. Front-face: Pink paper on which the design of Gothic tracery is printed. The design is heightened with blue wash. The peep-hole consists of the opening in the central arch. The bottom half of the arch is covered by a shutter, which is worn. Panel 1: a man descending the stairs on the left; a man in the right archway; a man ascending the stairs on the right. Panel 2: two workmen conversing and a man walking by in the left archway; two men conversing and a couple walking by in the right archway. Panel 3: a couple and a two-horse drawn coach with three passengers in the left archway; two workmen in the right archway, one with a wheel-barrel. Panel 4: two equestrians in the left archway; a man and a four-horse drawn coach with several passengers in the right archway. Panel 5: a man with a wagon in the left archway; a man and an equestrian trying to tame another horse in the right archway. Panel 6: a seated man, an equestrian and a man walking in the left archway; a couple and a one-horse drawn coach with two passengers in the right archway. Panel 7: a man and a two-horse drawn coach with three passengers in the left archway; three men in military uniform conversing in the right archway. Back panel: a coach and several passengers, and many pedestrians in the left archway; a wagon and pedestrians in the right archway. The reverse side is pasted with a decorative pink paper label. Removable slide: scene of the tunnelling shield and men working. Two men wearing top hats are observing the work on the left.
- Responsible department/section:
- NAL
- Text reason:
- Collections online record
- Text:
- The Thames Tunnel was an engineering project that spurred great public excitement both in Great Britain and abroad, and paper peepshows belonged to the wide range of souvenirs produced to cater for the public’s interest. The construction of the Thames Tunnel connecting Wapping on the north with Rotherhithe on the south began on the Rotherhithe shaft in March 1825. The first Thames Tunnel paper peepshow appeared as early as 16 June of the same year in London, showing how the finished work would look. Outside of Great Britain, a substantial amount of Thames Tunnel paper peepshows was produced in Germany. Many of these works took inspiration from British examples: here, for instance, the first panel and the depiction of the arches clearly derive from a peepshows such as Gestetner 195. Yet it also innovates on a few fronts. It has more cut-out panels than many other examples, and thus creates an even more effective illusion of depth. The publisher also included a greater variety of figures in the Tunnel, including characters sitting down and having problems with their vehicles, seldom seen in other works. Perhaps the most interesting aspect about this paper peepshow is the inclusion of the removable slide that shows the scene of the Tunnel being constructed and the tunnelling shield, the piece of machinery designed by principal engineer Marc Isambard Brunel and was instrumental in the building of the Thames Tunnel. Unlike other paper peepshows that only give the imagined view of the finished Tunnel, this work gives the alternative scene of the engineering project in its current stage. Apart from a different slipcase image, a more saturated yellow tone and a lighter colour for the horses, this work is essentially a duplicate of Gestetner 121. The front-face of this work shows Gothic tracery, entirely unrelated to the Thames Tunnel. It is difficult to know why the publisher chose this design, but a similar front panel was used by a different publisher (see Gestetner 94 and Gestetner 95). Typical of Thames Tunnel paper peepshows produced before the completion of the actual Tunnel, this work presents a projected rather than realistic view. The coaches and horses shown in the paper peepshow, for instance, were never able to enter the Tunnel in reality, as a ramp was never built.
- Text reason:
- Summary description
- User's reference:
- Reference:
- R. Hyde, Paper Peepshows. The Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner Collection (Woodbridge: The Antique Collectors' Club, 2015), cat. 121.
- User's reference:
- Reference:
- Outside of Great Britain, a substantial amount of Thames Tunnel paper peepshows were also produced in Germany. While many of these works took inspiration from British examples (for example in Gestetner 195): http://web.archive.org/web/20230120110000/ http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1418257/the- tunnel-paper-peepshow-brown-t/
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/13c630c4-1610-3caf-a34e-f7bfd8e53297
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/13c630c4-1610-3caf-a34e-f7bfd8e53297, Victoria and Albert Museum, CC BY-NC
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