Official catalogue of the British section.

  • Great Britain. Executive Commission, Philadelphia International Exhibition (1876)
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Official catalogue of the British section. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    75/856 (page 67)
    gave effect to the setting by Sir Sterndale Bennett of the Poet Laureate's ode, and the effect, both of sight and sound, was one of unsurpassed magnificence. Other Exhibitions had been noted for the absence of those slaves to the leaden messengers, that ride upon the violent speed of fire, but here, in Tennyson's words— Were trophies brought from every main, And mixt as life is mixt with pain, The arts of peace with those of war, and it would seem impossible to say whether the doors of the Temple of Janus would open wide or remain for ever closed. The Exhibition opened, on the 1st of May, a notable feature on that day being the presence of the Japanese Ambassadors, and closed on the 15th November, being a total of 17] days. The amount received was 408,530^. Is. 8<i, and the number of visitors 6,211,103, the maximum being attained on Thursday, October 30th, with 67,891. 1863 can count but two Exhibitions, one for the Duchy of Nassau at Wiesbaden, the number of exhibitors being no less than 1,317, and Constantinople with its exposition, comprising the natural and industrial resources of the empire. In 1864 the Merseburg Industrial Exposition was held, taking in Saxony, Hanover, Weimar, and Eisenach, Gotha, Anhalt, Meiningen, Schwarzburg, Sonderhausen, and Rudolphstadt, and thus constituting itself a German Exhibition. 1865 saw many varied gatherings, all International, that of Amsterdam being devoted to flowers, at which, strange to say, neither black tulip, blue dahlia, or green rose, put in a claim for the Grand Medal of Honour, Paris, calling a cheese conference, at which Stilton, Cheddar, Glo'ster, Gruyere, Brie, Roquefort, Bondon, evil-smelling Limberger, Liptauer, Schapziger, Parmesan, Gorgonzola, Ementhaler, and Gouda stood forth as the representatives of casein; whilst the displays of Dublin, Oporto (3,911 exhibitors), and Stettin (1,451 exhibitors) appealed to the general mass of industries. The Dublin Exhibition of 1865, like that of '53, owed much to the libe- rality of a citizen, the munificent donor on this occasion being the late Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness. The building, a gossamer-like structure of iron and glass, was opened on the 9th of May by the Prince of Wales in the presence of some 10,000 spectators, and was closed on that day six months, having been open 159 days and 51 evenings, the total number of admissions, exceeding 900,000, being an average of 5,000 by day and 3,000 by night. The Dublin Exhibition of '65 did not belie the reputation it had gained in