2-888-314 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The County Hunt Ball, in the New Hall, at Reading, [Berkshire], 1850. The '...handsome hall of the Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics' Institution...was characteristically decorated for the occasion with several pairs of noble antlers, groups of flowering plants and shrubs, and lighted by means of elegant chandeliers'. It was a '...superb room, of about 90 feet by 40 feet, with an elliptical ceiling, and lighted by eighteen large windows in the roof, giving an unbroken surface of wall round the entire room; except that the east end, over the platform, is ornamented by a handsome circular window of coloured glass...The music was excellent; the effective band, under the direction of Mr. Ireland, performed with great spirit'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.