Panoramas 1787–1900:

Texts and Contexts

In 1787, the entrepreneur Robert Barker patented a new from of entertainment that would intrigue the public for a century to come. This was the panorama, a massive circular painting whose effect on the viewer was deliberately enhanced through an original apparatus for viewing it. The early exhibitions of these paintings were so successful that Barker erected a purpose-built rotunda in Leicester Square, which was the first and most prominent venue in what became a longstanding mode of entertainment in Romantic and Victorian culture. Others soon joined or competed with Barker in his successful enterprise with other venues cropping up in the Strand, Spring Gardens and Regent’s Park. Panoramas came to be used as backdrops for stage productions and museum exhibits, though they continued to form a staple of the entertainment on offer in nineteenth-century London. They even spread to America and Europe, initiating a fascinating exchange across seas and cultures. But most of all, panoramas facilitated the viewing of oneself and one’s environment in the context of an international empire and a developing global commodity culture.

The panorama is primarily a visual medium, but a variety of forms of print culture mediated its viewing; these included adverts in newspapers, reviews, handbills, “short accounts” of views on display in the form of an annotated key to the painting, and most importantly, a descriptive programme usually of about twelve pages in length accompanied by an annotated key to the canvas. No collection or edition of texts related to the panorama exists, and the majority of materials presented here have not been reprinted since their first eighteenth- or nineteenth-century publication. However, these rare and various forms of print offer the most complete record of the panorama in existence. The short accounts, programs, reviews, articles and lectures collected here are the primary historical sources left to us.

This facsimile edition will make these difficult-to-access sources widely available to scholars for research or study, and will include full scholarly apparatus for their study, including introductions, headnotes, annotations, an appendix of mini-biographies of chief persons discussed, an appendix listing the panoramas exhibited at Leicester Square and the Strand as well as a bibliography and an index.

• Provides access to a wide range of rare, ephemeral texts for the first time
• Includes pictorial keys, included in most panorama programmes
• Includes material originating in both Britain and America

Contents

Volume 1

Global Introduction; Introduction to Stable Panoramas in Britain; Short Accounts: Position of the British and French Fleets, about Nine am on the First of June 1794 (London 1795); A short account of Lord Nelson’s defeat of the French at the Nile, 1799; Panorama, Leicester Sq, The present subject is a view of the Grand Fleet moored at Spithead [nd]; A concise account of the views of Constantinople… which are given to each person who goes to see those paintings at the Panorama, Leicester-Square (London, nd) broadside; Barker, Now exhibiting, two views of Paris…(London, 1803) handbill; Now exhibiting in the second circle, a view of Edinburgh and the surrounding country…(London, 1805) handbill; Now exhibiting at the Panorama, Strand, between Somerset Place and Surrey Street, a view of the university and city of Oxford, taken from the Radcliffe Library by Mr Barker (London, 1807); Barker, The view of Flushing during the siege, the large circle contains a view of Messina (London, 1811) handbill; Barker, Description of the representation of the Battle of Paris, fought on the 30th of March, 1814 (London, 1815); Barker, Explanation of the view of Paris from Montmartre (London 1815); Programmes: Barker, A short description of Grand Cairo and its environs, intended to illustrate the painting of that interesting city (London, 1809); Barker, A short account of the view of Lisbon (London, 1812); Barker, A short description of the island of Elba and town of Porto-Ferrajo (London, 1815); Barker, Description of the field of battle, and disposition of the troops engaged in the action, fought on the 18th of June, 1815, near Waterloo… (London, 1816); Jennings, James and Barker, Henry Aston, Description of Lord Exmouth’s attack upon Algiers (London, 1818); Description of the panorama of Venice, taken, and painted by Messrs Barker and Burford, from the Piazza di S. Marco, with a new representation of the carnival (London, 1819); Barker, Description of a view of the north coast of Spitzbergen, now exhibiting in the large rotunda of Henry Aston Barker’s Panorama, Leicester Square… (London, 1818); Barker, Description of the procession of the coronation of His Majesty George the fourth, which took place on Thursday, July 19, 1821 (London, 1822); Barker [and Burford?], Description of the island and city of Corfu, with part of the coast of Greece, Epirus, and the Suiote chain of mountains, in the distance…(London, 1823); Donaldson, Thomas Leverton and Burford J, Description of a view of the ruins of the city of Pompeii, and surrounding country, now exhibiting in the Panorama, Strand, painted from drawings taken on the spot by Mr Burford (London, 1824); Donaldson, Thomas Leverton and Burford, J, Description of a second view of Pompeii, and surrounding country, representing the Tragic Theatre, Covered Theatre, Temple of Isis, Small Forum (London, 1824); Burford, Description of a view of the city of Edinburgh, and surrounding country, now exhibiting in the Panorama, Leicester-square (London, 1825); Burford, Description of a view of the city of Mexico, and surrounding country, now exhibiting in the Panorama, Leicester Square (London, 1826); Burford, Description of a view of the city and lake of Geneva (London, 1822); Description of a view of the town of Sydney, New South Wales, the harbour of Port Jackson, and surrounding country…painted by the proprietor, Robert Burford (1829); Burford, Description of an attempt to illustrate Milton’s Pandemonium (London, 1829)

Volumes 2–5
Panoramas in Britain (Continued): Narrative Programs from Leicester Square Rotunda and the Panorama Strand: Burford and Smith, Robert, Description of a view of the city of Calcutta (London, 1830); Burford, Description of a view of the island and harbour of Bombay (London, 1831); Burford, Description of a view of … Florence (London, 1831); Burford, Description of a view of the falls of Niagara now exhibiting at the Panorama, Leicester Square (London, 1833); Burford, Description of a view of the siege of Antwerp (London, 1833); Burford, Description of a view of the continent of Boothia discovered by Captain Ross in his late expedition to the polar regions (London, 1834); Burford, Description of a view of the great temple of Karnak and the surrounding city of Thebes (London, 1834); Burford, Description of a view of the cemetery of Père la Chaise (London, 1834); Burford, Robert, Description of a view of Canton, the River Tigress, and the surrounding country, now exhibiting at the Panorama, Leicester Square, 1838; Description of a view of the bombardment of St Jean d'Acre, with the city and surrounding country, now exhibiting at the Panorama, Leicester Square... (London, Geo. Nichols, 1841); Burford, Robert, Description of a view of the continent of Boothia, discovered by Captain Ross in his late expedition to the polar regions…([London?: s.n.], 1834); Burford, Robert, Description of a view of the Himalaya Mountains with the British stations of Kussowlee, Soobathoo, and Simla, and a vast extent of the plains of Hindostan…(London, [R Burford], 1847); Description of a View of the island and bay of Hong Kong, now exhibiting at the Panorama, Leicester Square... (London, J Mitchell and Co, 1844); Burford, Robert, Description of summer and winter views of the polar regions, as seen during the expedition of Capt James Clark Ross, Kt., FRS in 1848–9, now exhibiting at the Panorama, Leicester Square ([London?: s.n.], 1850); Burford, Robert, Description of a view of the battle of Sobraon ([S.l.], Geo. Nichols, 1846); Panorama, Leicester Square (LONDON) Description of a View of the City of Cabul ... with the surrounding country, now exhibiting at the Panorama, Leicester Square [With a plan] (Geo. Nichols, London, 1842); Description of a view of Mont Blanc, the valley of Chamounix, and the surrounding mountains, now exhibiting at The Panorama, Leicester Square; Programmes from Other Stable Panorama Venues: Description of a View of the Harbour of Leith ... representing ... the landing of ... King George IV, on the pier of Leith ... 15th August, 1822 (J Bullock, London, 1822); Descriptive catalogue of the panorama of the Manchester and Liverpool Rail-road, ... now exhibiting at Baker Street, etc (London, 1834); An explanation of the View of Rome, taken from the tower of the Capitol... (Edinburgh, R Menzies, 1818); Description of a view of the City of Jerusalem, and the surrounding country, now exhibiting at the panorama (Laidlaw's) in this town... (J Hutchinson, Hull, 1837); A description of the Royal Colosseum, re-opened . . . and eight sections of the grand panorama of London (London 1848); The panorama and diorama of the Isle of Wight, with the Interior of Senlis Cathedral (Cheltenham, 1844); Brief account of the Franco-Prussian war, 1870–1, with a description of the scenes in Wilberforce and Parry’s panorama, as exhibited in various cities and towns in the United Kingdom (Edinburgh, 1870s); Description of the new panorama royal, . . . Glasgow, illustrative of the principal cities, towns, etc. of the Republic of Mexico . . . Together with a view of the wreck of the Great Britain steam ship (Edinburgh, 1840s); Moving Panorama Programmes: Description of the peristrephic panorama, illustrative of the principle events that have occurred to Buonaparte commencing with the battle of Watterloo on the 18th of June 1815 (Brighton, 1827); Description of Messrs Marshall's grand peristrephic panorama of the Polar regions, which displays the north coast of Spitzbergen, Baffin's Bay, Arctic Highlands, &c., now exhibiting in the large new circular wooden building, George's Square, ... (Leith, Scotland); Description of Messrs Marchall’s grand marine peristrephic panorama of the shipwreck of the Medusa, . . . to which is added their panorama of the principal event sof Bonaparte’s surrender on board the Bellerophon (Glasgow, 1821) (Hull, 1819); Description of Messrs Marshall’s grand historical peristrephic panorama of the coronation of his Majesty George IV, as it was done at Westminster . . . exhibiting in . . . Edinburgh (London 1821); Description of Mr Marshall’s peristrephic panorama of the city of Rome (Leith 1840); Moving Panorama Lecture: 'Mr Albert Smith's Ascent of Mont Blanc, Holland and up the Rhine', entertainment by Albert Richard Smith, licensed for performance at the Egyptian Hall 23 December 1854 [ms]; Reception of Stable and Moving Panoramas in Britain: Handbill for 'Mr Albert Smith's Ascent of Mont Blanc'; “Dioramas, Cosmoramas and Panoramas” Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (London edition, 1842); “Panorama” Art Journal 9 (1857); “Panoramas” Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Arts 33 (1860); “Panoramas and Dioramas” Leisure Hour 35 (1886); “Origin of Panorama” Magazine of Art 21 (November 1897); Telbin, W “Painting of Panoramas” Magazine of Art (London edition, 1900); Apperson, G L, “Early history of panoramas” Antiquary: a Magazine Devoted to the Past (1904); Materials related to Albert Smith’s moving panorama lecture in Punch; John Oxenford's review of Artemus Ward's lecture in the Times (1866); Reviews of Banyard’s panorama of the Mississippi in Littell’s Living Age, Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, and the People’s Journal; Review of the 1881 siege of Paris panorama in Punch (11 June 1881); Corner, George Richard, The panorama, with memoirs of its inventor, Robert Barker and his son, the late Henry Aston Barker (London, J & W Robins, 1857); Panoramas in America: Stable Panoramas: Exhibition at the Rounda, Chamber-Street, Description of the panorama picture of Athens, as it is now (New York, 1825); Descriptive pamphlet of Smith’s leviathan panorama of the Mississippi River (Philadelphia, 1848); Panorama of the Battle of Gettysburg (Chicago, 1893) (New York 1881–1901); A Description of the mammouth Cave of Kentucky, the Niagara River and falls . . . Fairmount water works and scenes on the Schuykill . . . to illustrate Brewer’s panorama (Boston, 1850); A comprehensive sketch of the Merrimac and Monitor naval battle giving an accurate account of the most important naval engagement in the annals of war (Poilpot) (New York, 1886); Key to the panorama of the palace and garden of Versailles (Boston, 1840); Atlanta, Battle of July 22 1864, fought by the armies of the Tennessee, Cumberland and Ohio under Generals Sherman, McPherson, Logan . . . a resume of situations shown in the panorama with map of diagram (Detroit, 1887); A comprehensive sketch of the battle of Mannassas or the second battle of Bull Run (by Poilpot) (Washington, 1887); Smith, John R, artist, The Grand American Hall, ... Leicester Square, Professor Risley and Mr J R Smith’s ... Panorama of the Mississippi River… [MS] London, 1848; BANVARD, John, Description of Banvard's Panorama of the Mississippi & Missouri Rivers, extensively known as the “Three-Mile Painting,” ... (W J Golbourn, London, 1848); Moving Panorama Programmes: A description of Sinclair’s grand peristrephic or moving panorama of the Battle of Navarino (New York, 1835); Descriptive Book of the tour of Europe, the largest moving panorama in the world (New York, 1855); Description of Sinclair’s peristrephic panorama . . . Napoleon commencing with Waterloo (Albany, 1835) (Baltimore, 1833); Banvard’s new American entertainment and great moving panorama, illustrating life and science in Canada, the United States and British Columbia (Nottingham, 1875); Moving Panorama Lecture: 'Artemus Ward among the Mormons' Lecture on his travels in the United States, first delivered in 1866 at the Egyptian Hall, posthumously edited by T W Robertson and E P Hingston and published in 1869; Panorama adverts: The most magnificent moving panorama in the world! A walk in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve (Washington Hall, Boston, 1849); New moving panorama!! Entitled the Mermaid’s cave and haunt of the fairies!! Painted by Robert Jones (Philadelphia, 1844); Last week at Horticultural Hall, The monster panorama of the Crystal Palace! P T Barnum — proprietor (Boston, 1852); Great success of Bayne’s gigantic panoramic picture of a voyage to Europe! (Boston, 1847); Reception: Handbill for 'Artemus Ward among the Mormons'; The panorama and other poems, John Greenleaf Whittier (Boston, 1856): Brief sketch of the life of O A Bullard, together with recommendations and opinions of the press in regard to his panorama of New York City (Buffalo, 1851); Sealy’s late Carter’s gigantic moving panorama of the Mississippi. . . extracts from the public journals of the west of England (Dursely, 1850); February 1, 1797, New panorama, belonging to G Baker, On Monday next, the 6th inst, Will be opened in Greenwhich-Street, advert for Charleston panorama to be shown in New York

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