3-000-295 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Literary reunion in Mr. Mudie's new hall, 1860. 'On the evening of Monday week Mr. and Mrs. C. E Mudie received a vast number of literary and artistic friends, on the occasion of the opening of the new hall of the library, New Oxford-street, [London]. The company included the representatives of all classes of literature, science, and art...The walls were decorated with a variety of pictures, the property of Mr. Mudie...The vocalists who were engaged were Miss Palmer, Miss Eliza Hughes, Signor Nappi, Messrs. Aspa and Kenny. In the centre of the hall were exhibited, on a circular dais, a number of splendid photographs, and a number of charming statuettes in terracotta by Bezzi. The hall is a beautiful structure, from the designs of Mr. William J. Trehearne. Its size is 65 feet by 45 feet, and its height is 45 feet from the ground line. There is a central iron staircase to a commodious basement. The principal cornice is supported by Ionic columns, springing from which is a most elegant lantern, divided by pilasters and circular-headed windows; the roof being formed of transverse mouldings, and spaces being filled in with ground glass. A well-constructed gallery round the building affords every facility for the arrangement of the books'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.