1814. 8vo, pp. [3]-17; with folding wood-engraved plate (as frontispiece), and small woodcut tail-piece; title-page within ornamental border; some light marginal browning and soiling, with small nick at tail of title, and a couple of other small marginal nicks to fore-edges; with the book-plate of Arthur Elton on front pastedown; uncut, retaining the original yellow printed wrappers, and bound in modern maroon half-cloth over marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt; a very good copy. Rare first edition of this Regency pamphlet celebrating the National Jubilee of August 1814, not only of social historical interest, but of importance in relation to the history of technology and of gas lighting in particular, and including the rare plate depicting the two centrepieces of the celebrations, the Temple of Concord and the Chinese Pagoda and Bridge.
The London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company was incorporated in 1810 and was granted a Royal Charter in 1812, ushering in a new era in both public and private lighting. It built the first gasworks along the banks of the Thames, gas distribution achieved through cast iron mains (some of them made from recycled musket barrels), with the pressure regulated by valves (referred to as ‘governors’). Public street lighting was expanded to Westminster Bridge on 31 December 1813, and by 1815, thirty miles of gas lines had been laid.
It received its first truly spectacular exhibition, however, at the visit in June 1814 of the Allied Sovereigns to celebrate peace and the abdication of Napoleon, and the centenary of the ascension of the House of Hanover to the British throne. The Grand Jubilee held on August 1st was a national day of celebration, the date also marking the 16th anniversary of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile.
Celebrations centred upon the Royal Parks in London. An 80 foot high, seven-story timber Chinese Bridge and octagonal Pagoda was erected in St. James’s Park, designed by John Nash (1752-1835). A ‘Temple of Discorde’ was also erected in Green Park, which, by means of a mechanism designed by Sir William Congreve (1772-1828), under the cover of a firework display transformed into a ‘Temple of Concorde’.
Supplied with gas by the GLCC, the Pagoda was lit by 10,000 gas burners, and was to form the centrepiece of the celebrations. At 10 pm, as the pamphlet reveals, ‘the Chinese Bridge and Pagoda were completely illuminated, and had the appearance of a blazing edifice of fire. Every part of the building was covered with lamps, the gas lights in proper places relieving the dazzling splendour with their silver lustre; the canopies of the temple throwing up sky-rockets in the forms of wheels and stars. The effect of these vivid lights on the calm water which flowed beneath, the verdant foliage of the surrounding trees, the scattered tents, and the numerous assemblage of spectators on the lawn, appeared like the magical and enchanting scenes represented in the romances of the East’ (p.15).
Unfortunately at some point during the evening, a rocket from the firework display is believed to have hit the structure which caught fire and burnt to the ground, resulting in two deaths and a number of injuries to the men who were supervising the display. This terrible accident is given scant attention in the pamphlet and makes no mention of the fatalities. No doubt a prudent decision by the publisher, is what is an unashamedly patriotic celebration of the Great Britain and the Monarchy, and who would not wish to cast a shadow on what should have been such a triumphant evening. The episode, however, entered the public imagination, revealing as it did both the wonders and dangers of gas-lighting, and the GLCC was to struggle financially as a result for a number of years before the gas industry finally took off.
Not all copies located retain the attractive folding wood-engraved plate (which in seemingly the Columbia copy may in fact form two individual plates). A ‘New and Improved Edition’ was published in the same year, which included a note at the foot of the printed wrapper suggesting that copies could be purchased with or without the plate.