Written by Reginald Frontispiece Ltd
On this day May 1, 1851 Queen Victoria opened The Great Exhibition.
More properly, 'The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations'.
It was held at The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, and was open from May 1 to October 15, 1851.
From 1798 to 1849 the French held eleven Exposition des produits de l'industrie française (Exhibition of Products of French Industry) promoting French industry and culture.
The Great Exhibition of 1851 differed from the French model in that it was not funded by government but by private capital. Furthermore, it was intended that the Great Exhibition would make a profit.
It was also international, with exhibitors from throughout Great Britain, from its colonies, and forty-four 'Foreign States' in Europe and the Americas.
Exhibits included: fabrics, furniture, metalwork, pottery, perfumes, pianos, weapons, steam engines, locks and a house designed by Prince Albert. As well as:
The Koh-i-Noor diamond.
Mathew Brady's daguerreotypes (photographs).
The first 'pay as you go' lavatories where 827,280 visitors "spent a penny".
Samuel Colt's revolvers.
Hornung of Copenhagen, Denmark's single-cast iron frame for a piano.
and American locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs picking the locks of Chubb and Bramah at the Exhibition.
At the end of the exhibition six million people had passed through its doors, representing a third of the UK's population.
... and a profit of £186,000 had been made, which was used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum.
In 1854 the Crystal Palace was dismantled and moved to Sydenham, where it remained an attraction until burning down in 1936.
Our image from the Frontispiece Ltd collection, was published in The Illustrated London News in August 1851, and shows the 1848 feet long by 454 feet wide cast-iron and glass structure.
You can view it here.