Society for the Illustration and Encouragement of Practical Science.

£1,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Rare. The British Museum has a clipped example of the engraved view of the Gallery only. We have not traced any other examples of the broadside. A very fine and large broadside showing the many different exhibits at the Gallery of Practical Science in London including a steam gun, a lithographic press, steam engines, fossils, shells, microscopes, models of famous buildings and “Implements of the Natives of the South Sea.” The Gallery of Practical Science at the Adelaide Gallery was opened in 1830 under the supervision of the American inventor and engineer, Jacob Perkins (1766-1849). The exhibition was intended to promote new scientific inventions to the general public and was incorporated by a Royal Charter in 1834. A fine watercolour view (in the British Museum) of the gallery by George Scharf produced shortly after the opening shows many of the exhibits illustrated in the engraving here but highlights how many more items were added over the years. To the right of the illustration can be seen Jacob Perkins steam gun which fired bullets each hour into a target at the other end of the gallery. At the foot of the advertisement it is stated that “Chemical Demonstrations” are held, “daily at Two o’Clock.”

• Binding: Hardcover

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