3-017-242 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Wakefield Industrial Exhibition, 1865. 'This exhibition...has since proved most successful, the number of visitors hitherto being more than 50,000. It has been well arranged to combine the generally attractive character of a display of manufactures and specimens of art or design with that of a large exhibition of the humbler but individually most interesting productions of the working classes...Specimens of manufactures, machinery in motion, musical instruments, furniture; architectural, marine, and other models; drawings, paintings sculpture, photographs, wood- carvings, stuffed birds and animals, needlework, and multitudes of things made by artisans of the West Riding in their leisure hours are exhibited...The exhibition is held in a large building which has been erected for the purpose from the design of Mr. William Watson...The lower floor is devoted to machinery in motion and heavy products. The upper floor, which is a single apartment, contains the principal part of the exhibition...the exhibition is held in six rooms, which contain about 17,500 square feet of floor and table space, and 17,000 square feet of wall space. The number of exhibitors, including the fine arts department and children, amount to nearly 2000'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.