The First Shilling Day - going in

One of a pair of etchings entitled 'The First Shilling Day - going in'. Depicts the mob rushing to the turnstiles of the Great Exhibition on the first day that was affordable for the masses, then two policemen trying to return property lost in the rush. Early in the season the tickets were 3 guineas (£275 today) reducing to £1, five shillings, and finally (in the height of the summer , when the wealthy escaped from London) to 1 shilling (£4.35). 4.5 million 1 shilling tickets were sold. Illustration from Henry Mayhew’s ‘The world’s show, 1851, or, The Adventures of Mr. and Mrs Sandboys and family’.George Cruikshank. (London: David Bogue, 1851.) One of a pair of etchings. 140x220mm 5 1/4x 8 ¾’’

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