- Title:
- [Thames Tunnel]
- Object name(s):
- Paper peepshow
- Brief description:
- Accordion-style paper peepshow of the Thames Tunnel as actually built. 2 cut-out panels. 2 peep-holes. Hand-coloured line engraving. Bound inside boards with cloth spine. Expands to approximately 44 cm. Front cover: a circular label with words ‘Bought in the Thames Tunnel’. Front-face: a circular print showing the Great Eastern steamship and workmen in the iron shield inside the Thames Tunnel. It is titled ‘The Great Eastern near Rotherhithe/Workmen in the Shield’. Two peep-holes on either side of the print. Panel 1-2 and Back panel: pedestrians in the left and right archway of the Tunnel.
- 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:
- 11.4
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 16
- Dimension:
- Length
- Dimension measured part:
- fully extended
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 44
- Material:
- paper
- Object history note:
- 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 271
- Object production date:
- ca. 1860
- Date - association:
- published
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1855-01-01
- Date - latest:
- 1864-12-31
- Object production person:
- Azulay, Bondy
- Person's association:
- publisher
- Object production place:
- London
- Place association:
- published
- Other number:
- 38041016058513
- Other number type:
- NAL barcode
- Physical description:
- Accordion-style paper peepshow of the Thames Tunnel as actually built. 2 cut-out panels. 2 peep-holes. Hand-coloured line engraving. Bound inside boards with cloth spine. Expands to approximately 44 cm. Front cover: a circular label with words ‘Bought in the Thames Tunnel’. Front-face: a circular print showing the Great Eastern steamship and workmen in the iron shield inside the Thames Tunnel. It is titled ‘The Great Eastern near Rotherhithe/Workmen in the Shield’. Two peep-holes on either side of the print. Panel 1-2 and Back panel: pedestrians in the left and right archway of the Tunnel.
- Responsible department/section:
- NAL
- Text reason:
- Collections online record
- Text:
- 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. After the completion of the Tunnel in 1843, the majority of paper peepshows on this topic came from either T. C. Brandon or Bondy Azulay, who both had counters selling souvenirs inside the Tunnel, and sometimes even collaborated in producing paper peepshows of the Tunnel. Here the words ‘bought in the Thames Tunnel’ stresses the first-hand experience of the great engineering feat embodied in the souvenir, which was a practice used by many other merchants in the Tunnel. This work is typical of Azulay’s production in many ways. Its format breaks with the tradition of housing paper peepshows in slipcases. A book format is instead used, and might have contributed to the term ‘tunnel book’ now used for the paper peepshow (most often in the United States). The signature bright blue front-face could be a reference to azure, a pun on Azulay’s name. The poor quality of the engraving—stylised figures and crude colouring in sweeps and dabs, is also consistent with that of Azulay’s other paper peepshows. The circular print on the front-face would have originally been used for a peep-egg, another optical toy. Azulay’s appropriation of it suggests again his negligence in the quality of his works. Interestingly, apart from showing the Thames Tunnel, the print also depicts the Great Eastern steamship by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the son of the Tunnel’s mastermind, Marc Isambard Brunel. The Great Eastern was launched as the world’s largest ship in 1858, and maintained this status for half a century. The inclusion of this project could be Azulay’s way to show the contemporariness of his work.
- 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. 271.
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/7ee6e72c-95cc-3290-8699-e891d014e317
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/7ee6e72c-95cc-3290-8699-e891d014e317, Victoria and Albert Museum, CC BY-NC
Is there a problem with this record? Give feedback.