Object: A View of the Tunnel under the Thames, as it will appear when completed

Title:

A View of the Tunnel under the Thames, as it will appear when completed

Object name(s):

Paper peepshow

Brief description:

Accordion-style paper peepshow of the Thames Tunnel imagined by the publisher as it would appear when completed. 5 cut-out panels. 1 peep-hole. Hand-coloured aquatint. In a slipcase. Expands to approximately 62 cm. Slipcase: a label on a blue background. The label has the title ‘A View of the Tunnel under the Thames’ combined with the price and an oval vignette of a view across the Thames and a cross section of the Tunnel. All of these are exactly as on the label on Gestetner 208. The date is changed to December 1829, and beneath the label there is a smaller vendor’s label that reads ‘by C. Essex & Co. Gloster St. St John’s.’ Front-face: the title, statistics of the Tunnel, the publisher’s imprint. A large oval peep-hole surrounding shutters. The upper shutter shows a view across the Thames, and the lower shutter illustrates the inundation of the Tunnel on 18 May 1827. The text below the shutters explains the image. It is the exact duplicate of the front-face of Gestetner 208. Panel 1: men and women descending the staircases on either side, a man in the left archway. Panel 2: a horseman riding in the left archway, an equestrian riding past a woman in the right archway. Panel 3: a man leading a horse-drawn cart in the left archway, a cart in the right archway. Panel 4 and 5: a coach in the left archway, a cab in the right archway. Back panel: a coach in the left archway, a wagon in the right archway.

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:

11.5

Dimension:

Width

Dimension measurement unit:

cm

Dimension value:

14.5

Dimension:

Length

Dimension measured part:

fully extended

Dimension measurement unit:

cm

Dimension value:

62

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 213

Object production date:

1829

Date - association:

published

Date - earliest / single:

1829-01-01

Date - latest:

1829-12-31

Object production person:

Gouyn, M.

Person's association:

publisher

Person's biographical note:

7 Fish St Hill, London

Object production place:

London

Place association:

published

Other number:

38041016059131

Other number type:

NAL barcode

Physical description:

Accordion-style paper peepshow of the Thames Tunnel imagined by the publisher as it would appear when completed. 5 cut-out panels. 1 peep-hole. Hand-coloured aquatint. In a slipcase. Expands to approximately 62 cm. Slipcase: a label on a blue background. The label has the title ‘A View of the Tunnel under the Thames’ combined with the price and an oval vignette of a view across the Thames and a cross section of the Tunnel. All of these are exactly as on the label on Gestetner 208. The date is changed to December 1829, and beneath the label there is a smaller vendor’s label that reads ‘by C. Essex & Co. Gloster St. St John’s.’ Front-face: the title, statistics of the Tunnel, the publisher’s imprint. A large oval peep-hole surrounding shutters. The upper shutter shows a view across the Thames, and the lower shutter illustrates the inundation of the Tunnel on 18 May 1827. The text below the shutters explains the image. It is the exact duplicate of the front-face of Gestetner 208. Panel 1: men and women descending the staircases on either side, a man in the left archway. Panel 2: a horseman riding in the left archway, an equestrian riding past a woman in the right archway. Panel 3: a man leading a horse-drawn cart in the left archway, a cart in the right archway. Panel 4 and 5: a coach in the left archway, a cab in the right archway. Back panel: a coach in the left archway, a wagon in the right archway.

Responsible department/section:

NAL

Text:

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1462820/

Text reason:

Collections online record

Text:

The Thames Tunnel was one of the most popular British subjects for paper peepshows, and its enduring association with this kind of optical device can still be judged from one of its modern names, the ‘tunnel book’ (this term is most often used in the United States). The paper peepshow’s accordion shape would suggest a natural link to the form of the Tunnel, as the expanded bellows effectively create the depth impression that echoes the Tunnel archways. When we look through the peep-hole of this work, we can see pedestrians and vehicles promenading in the bright underground passage. The construction of the Thames Tunnel connecting Wapping on the north with Rotherhithe on the south was authorised in 1824. Work began on the Rotherhithe shaft in March 1825, and the first Thames Tunnel paper peepshow appeared as early as 16 June of the same year. This paper peepshow is a later version of Gestetner 208. Although published more than two years after the inundation of the Tunnel on 18 May 1827, it still includes it in its front-face vignette. The first major flooding in the construction of the Tunnel, this accident occurred when almost half of the Tunnel was built. In making their escape, the resident engineer Isambard Brunel and his assistant Richard Beamish barely made it in time to reach the top of the stairs. Although the work had to be suspended for a short period after the accident, the inundation did not make any victims and the brickwork of the Tunnel remained sound. Similar to the Great Exhibition, the Thames Tunnel also generated great public excitement both at home and abroad, and the paper peepshow is but one part of the huge souvenir market this engineering feat gave rise to. Like many others, this work was published before the Tunnel was completed, and depicts the Tunnel as imagined by the publisher. The horse-drawn carriages 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. 213.

User's reference:

Reference:

It is the exact duplicate of the front-face of Gestetner 208: http://web.archive.org/web/20230201115033/https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1459253/a-view-of-the-tunnel-paper-peepshow-gouyn-s-f/

Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/9fb7735a-88e7-32e0-8b04-6a7befbbdcce

Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC

Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/9fb7735a-88e7-32e0-8b04-6a7befbbdcce, Victoria and Albert Museum, CC BY-NC

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