3-009-053 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition: "Temple of Art", in vegetable ivory, by B. Taylor, 1862. 'This work makes no pretentions to architectural beauty...its interest consists in its being formed of "vegetable ivory"...Vegetable ivory is the seed of a kind of palm, the Phytelaphas macrocarpa. Four seeds grow in each cell or cavity of a large fruit...It was Humboldt who first drew our attention to this seed, and pointed out its adaptability to useful purposes; and now we find it wrought into articles of beauty and utility...Mr. B. Taylor...exhibits his temple and numerous little articles at the eastern side of the eastern annexe, where souvenirs of the exhibition can be procured'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.