Monocular opaque glass viewer enclosing a print showing the Thames Tunnel, approximately 1843
- Title(s):
- Monocular opaque glass viewer enclosing a print showing the Thames Tunnel.
- Additional Title(s):
- Thames Tunnel
- Published/Created:
- Great Britain, approximately 1843.
- Physical Description:
- 1 item ; 55 mm in diameter (at base), 105 mm long
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsTS513 .M6 1843 FlatYale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund[Request]
- Copyright Status:
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/11175134
- Classification:
- Three-Dimensional Artifacts
- Notes:
- Engineered by Marc Brunel and begun in 1825, the Thames Tunnel was the first tunnel ever built under a navigable river. Although Brunel had devised a special tunneling shield to dig underneath the river, water still came in during construction, and seven men drowned before the tunnel was completed in 1843.
Restricted fragile material. Use requires permission of the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
Opaque white glass monocular viewer enclosing a partially colored engraved print of the Thames Tunnel lettered around the circumference: "Thames Tunnel. 1200 feet long, 76 feet below high water mark. Was 8 years building & cost £446,000. Opened the 25th day of March 1843." The viewer is bell shaped, measuring 35 mm in diameter at the end containing the single lens, 55 mm in diameter at the base (to which is mounted the small print). The viewer would likely have been sold as a souvenir at the opening of the tunnel. - Subject Terms:
- Peep shows -- Specimens.Thames Tunnel (London, England) -- Pictorial works.Tunnels -- England -- London.
- Form/Genre:
- Optical instruments.
Peepshows.
Recreations -- Great Britain.
Engravings -- Hand-colored -- 1843. - Export:
- XML