2-913-540 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Conversazione of the Educational Exhibition, in St. Martin's-Hall, 1854. Prince Albert visits a display in London: 'The most careless person can there see at a glance the various merits of different systems of education, and can thus discover, without any trouble, what no amount of reading would have served to teach him, that, in many respects, we are greatly behind other nations in the various means and appliances employed in carrying on the great work of elementary education...in the middle are four tables, on which are exhibited the articles from abroad; and the galleries are devoted to philosophical instruments, apparatus, &c...All over the walls, in the passages, on the landings as you go up the stairs, and round the galleries, maps and diagrams are hung, and at the foot of the stairs some excellent models of school-fittings (desks and seats) are exhibited'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.