The Great Exhibition in Art

Picturing the First World's Fair, 1851

Julius Bryant

$128

Hardback

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English

Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
27 October 2025

Series: V&A 19th-Century Series

The Great Exhibition of 1851, the first World's Fair, is generally thought of as a giant trade fair, a showcase for empires and industry. However, it was also conceived to address a deep-rooted problem with British taste, which favoured European art and design over British. Julius Bryant's richly illustrated new book, which draws on the vast visual resources of the V&A's collections, establishes the centrality of works of fine art amongst the objects on show at the Great Exhibition. It also highlights the ways in which contemporary artists were commissioned to depict and record the Exhibition’s building and displays for reproduction in commemorative publications.

Through reproductions of period images from definitive official publications, commercial guides, souvenirs, music scores, poems and satirical periodicals, the book brings to life the 19th-century visitor’s experience of the first World’s Fair. It documents Prince Albert’s vision for the Exhibition alongside the planned and actual routes as recorded in official engravings, maps and guidebooks; the opening and closing ceremonies as depicted in prints; the official visual record of the Exhibition; and souvenirs, popular press and ephemera. It concludes by examining the legacy of the Great Exhibition, including the founding of an institution which shared the Exhibition's mission to educate the public about art, design and taste: the Victoria and Albert Museum.

By: Julius Bryant
Imprint: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 270mm, Width: 228mm, Spine: 22mm
ISBN: 9781848227132
ISBN 10: 1848227132
Series: V&A 19th-Century Series
Pages: 160
Publication Date: 27 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Foreword, Tristram Hunt; Introduction: Picturing the Unpaintable; Part 1: Creating the Great Exhibition: 1 Global Ambitions; 2 A ‘Crystal Palace’; 3 From Raw Materials to Fine Art; Part 2: Experiencing the Great Exhibition: 4 Royal Performances; 5 Finding the ‘Lions’ Through Guidebooks; Part 3: Publishing the Great Exhibition: 6 Illustrating the World’s Fair; 7 Prince Albert’s ‘Comprehensive Pictures’ (1854); Conclusion: Lessons and Legacies; Notes; Further Reading; Acknowledgements; Index

Julius Bryant is Keeper Emeritus of the Victoria and Albert Museum. His previous books published by Lund Humphries and the V&A in this series are: Designing the V&A: The Museum as a Work of Art (1857–1909) (2017), Creating the V&A: Victoria and Albert's Museum (1851–1861) (2019) and Enriching the V&A: A Collection of Collections (1862-1914) (2022).

Reviews for The Great Exhibition in Art: Picturing the First World's Fair, 1851

'This is a landmark publication, the first comprehensive publication on the 1851 Great Exhibition, its aims, concept, planning and materialisation in what was dubbed the Crystal Palace in all its aspirational glory and hideosity. This book is an indispensable index to the make-up of the mid-Victorian mind in all its contradictions and complexities.' - Sir Roy Strong