The rational amusements of the Royal Mechanical Exhibition from London , [1817]
- Title(s):
- The rational amusements of the Royal Mechanical Exhibition from London : under the direction of Mr. Louis, the principal engineer, a native of Switzerland, will continue open day and evening, at Mr. Crumpton's school-room, High-Street, Bridgnorth; until Friday next, July 11th.
- Published/Created:
- Bridgnorth : Printed at the office of G. Gitton [1817]
- Physical Description:
- 1 sheet ([1] page) ; 47 x 22 cm
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsFolio A 2015 3w[Request]
- Copyright Status:
- Copyright Not Evaluated
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/208124
- Classification:
- Books
- Notes:
- At head of title: Monday, July 7th 1817.
These automatons were exhibited in London by Henri Maillardet between 1798 and 1817, with interests in other English cities, including a stop in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, during July 1817. The harpsichord-playing "Musical Lady" was described in Maillardet's accounts as "an organ mechanism with two registers and bellows," whose eyes, head, fingers and feet moved as she played her repertory of sixteen tunes. Cf. Pleasures and pastimes.
The "mechanical writing and drawing master" was a figure of a boy seated at a desk, capable of inscribing three landscapes and four pieces of writing in English and French in the course of an hour. Among the other exhibits were a fortune teller (the "old necromancer") and a rope dancer, as well as an assortment of miniature mechanisms, such as the bird of paradise, "which starts from a gold snuff-box." Cf. Pleasures and pastimes.
Fairman, Elisabeth R. Pleasures and pastimes, 131
Selected exhibitions: "Pleasures and Pastimes" (Yale Center for British Art, February 21 - April 29, 1990).
An advertisement for an exhibition of automata. - Subject Terms:
- Maillardet, Henri, 1745–1830.Robots.
- Form/Genre:
- Ephemera.
Advertisements.
Broadsides. - Export:
- XML
Pleasures and Pastimes (Yale Center for British Art, 1990-02-21 - 1990-04-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
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