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"The greatest of all international expositions and world fairs is generally conceded to have been the incredible Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 in London. Officially titled The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, it was held in a gigantic greenhouse-like building that covered almost 20 acres, used almost a million square feet of glass, and taxed the resources of a nation to erect. This was the Crystal Palace, one of the wonders of the 19th century, in which the nations of the civilized world exhibited their achievements in the arts and sciences. Almost as important as the exhibition itself was the Illustrated Catalogue printed by the Art-Journal in 1851. The semi-official record of the exposition and much the best publication about it, it circulated around the civilized world and brought the London of Queen Victoria (with the comparable high achievements of Paris, Berlin, Liège, New York) into the living milieu of countless designers and inventors. Richly illustrated, it displayed an entire universe of design: ceramics, textiles, cast-iron work, domestic furniture, cut glass, decorative hardware, chimneypieces, carpets, pianos, figureheads, lighting fixtures, statuary, terra-cotta work, razors, wall papers, stoves, carriages, weapons, sleighs, billiard tables, clocks, beehives, mosaics, silverware, and hundreds of other artifacts. A text accompanying more than 1500 illustrated items gives the illusion that you are on a walking tour of the Palace itself."--Back cover.