London in 1851 was site of the Great Exhibition. Formally, it was titled, “The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations“. The press focused attention on the giant glass house containing the exhibition, dubbing it “Crystal Palace”.
The core of the Great Exhibition was a series of exhibitions associated with specific British manufacturing industries that were producing precision science and engineering equipment, consumer goods, and fine decorative objects. Additional exhibitions provided international comparison both for quality of manufacture and for the supply of goods and raw materials from colonial networks. The modern approximation of such an event is a major trade show in a large exhibition centre.
By design, the Great Exhibition lasted for a single season. As the summer came to a close, many exhibits were sold. Others were returned. The glasshouse was sold, too. It was disassembled and transported to Sydenham in south London where it formed the centre point for the newly formed Crystal Palace Company’s pleasure gardens.
Forbes’s “On the Vegetable World”
The Art-Journal: Monthly Journal of the Arts produced a richly illustrated catalogue of decorative arts objects on view at the Great Exhibition. The Art-Journal claimed a circulation of over 30,000. Introductory materials in the catalogue included short essays from associated of celebrity experts. This chapter was written by Edward Forbes, Professor of Botany, King’s College, London.
The full citation is:
- Forbes, Edward. 1851. “On the Vegetable World as Contributing to the Great Exhibition” in Art-Journal (ed). 1851. Industry of All Nations Exhibition: The Art-Journal Illustrated Catalogue (London, The Art Journal), pp. 1-8.
Other essays in the introductory material for this volume include:
- History of the Great Exhibition
- The Science of the Exhibition, by Robert Hunt (Keeper of Mining Records, Museum of Practical Geology)
- The Machinery of the Exhibition, As Applied to Textile Manufactures, by Lewis D. B. Gordon (Regis Professor of Mechanics, University of Glasglow)
- On the Vegetable World as Contributing to the Great Exhibition, by Edward Forbes (Professor of Botany, King’s College, London, Etc.)
- Prize Essay: The Exhibition As a Lesson in Taste, by Ralph Nicholson Wornum
- The Harmony of Colours, as Exemplified in the Exhibition, by Mary Philadelphia Merrifield
Decorative Arts in the Great Exhibition (1851, Crystal Palace)
Below are sample pages from the catalogue itself. The full catalogue is available via Internet Archive.