No date but 1838. Spooner's Protean Views No. 28. The Thames Tunnel. Changing to the Coronation Procession from Buckingham Palace. London. W. Spooner. 377, Strand.
285 x 228 mm. Original white label printed in black laid down on mount below lithograph. Hand coloured lithograph. Transforms from the Thames tunnel to the coronation procession from Buckingham Palace when a light source is applied from behind. In mylar sleeve for protection.
Transformational optical print of the world's first underwater tunnel by Sir Marc Brunel. Brunel invented a shield to dig the tunnel and his prototype has become the norm for every tunnel-digging machine today. Work on the tunnel started in 1824 and completed after a period of suspension in 1843. By March 5th, 1844, over two million people had bought their penny tickets to walk through the tunnel (almost the same number as the entire population of London at that time). Originally intended for pedestrians and horse-drawn traffic, the tunnel is now a part of the London Underground system- it has never undergone major repairs, never leaked and been in use for nearly two hundred years.
Queen Victoria was crowned on June 28th, 1838 at Westminster Abbey after a procession from Buckingham Palace.
Mr. Spooner was a London based printer who, in the 1840s, made card and paper novelties which he called Protean Views. Over thirty different views were produced and they are now very collectable (mostly of buildings or locations). Each view comprised a cardboard frame, with a hand-coloured paper picture of a popular subject printed on it. When you hold it up to a bright light, or sunlight, a new image appears, as if by magic. In the early 1800s, years before the invention of cinema, scientists, artists and showmen were fascinated by pictures that changed in some way. There were a number of large-scale entertainments that used this idea to attract and amaze audiences, such as panoramas and dioramas. In addition, smaller versions such as this Protean View were made, known as ‘optical toys’.
Chrimes, Elton, May & Millett, Triumphant Bore, 1993. Number 132.
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