The Crystal Palace. Front View

8" x 4", early issue (Godden type B2) with title printed on mount; a nice copy, mounted and framed Godden 9 (eleven-title label); Sprake STG 131; see Godden, Stevengraphs and other Victorian silk pictures, p.15, 124 Silk worked pictures known as Stevengraphs (named after their originator, the Coventry manufacturer, Thomas Stevens, d. 1888) were first introduced to the public as a gimmick at the York Exhibition, 7th May, 1879. These charming silk-woven mementoes proved popular, and new designs were rapidly produced. The present example shows a landscape exterior view of the Crystal Palace. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, this huge iron goliath with over a million feet of glass, was originally errected in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was later moved to Sydenham, where it served for many years as a popular exhibition hall, with fine ornamental gardens. It was destroyed by fire in 1936.