{"id":27739,"date":"2024-12-30T19:00:37","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T19:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/?p=27739"},"modified":"2024-12-30T18:24:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T18:24:07","slug":"maskelyne-and-cooke-at-the-egyptian-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/2024\/12\/30\/maskelyne-and-cooke-at-the-egyptian-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Maskelyne and Cooke at the Egyptian Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, circa 1896.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Egyptian Hall, the front of which forms one of the most noticeable features on the southern side of Piccadilly, nearly opposite to Bond Street, was erected in the year 1812, from the designs of Mr. G. F. Robinson, at a cost of \u00a316,000, for a museum of natural history, the objects of which were in part collected by William Bullock, F.L.S., during his thirty years\u2019 travel in Central America. The edifice was so named from its being in the Egyptian style of architecture and ornament, the inclined pilasters and sides being covered with hieroglyphics; and the hall is now used principally for popular entertainments, lectures, and exhibitions. Bullock\u2019s Museum was at one time one of the most popular exhibitions in the metropolis. It comprised curiosities from the South Sea, Africa, and North and South America; works of art; armoury, and the travelling carriage of Bonaparte. The collection, which was made up to a very great extent out of the Lichfield Museum and that of Sir Ashton Lever, was sold off by auction, and dispersed in lots, in 1819.<\/p>\n

Here, in 1825, was exhibited a curious phenomenon, known as \u201cthe Living Skeleton,\u201d or \u2018the Anatomic Vivante,\u201d of whom a short account will be found in Hone\u2019s \u201cEvery-Day Book.\u201d His name was Claude Amboise Seurat, and he was born in Champagne, in April, 1798. His height was 5 feet 7\u00bd inches, and as he consisted literally of nothing but skin and bone, he weighed only 77\u00be Ibs. He (or another living skeleton) was shown subsequently\u2014in 1830, we believe\u2014at \u201c Bartlemy Fair,\u201d but died shortly afterwards. There is extant a portrait of M. Seurat, published by John Williams, of 13, Paternoster Row, which quite enables us to identify in him the perfect French native.<\/p>\n

Of the various entertainments and exhibitions that have found a home here, it would, perhaps, be needless to attempt to give a complete catalogue; but we may, at least, mention a few of the most successful. In 1829, the Siamese Twins made their first appearance here, and were described at the time as \u201ctwo youths of eighteen, natives of Siam, united by a short band at the pit of the stomach\u2014two perfect bodies, bound together by an inseparable link.\u201d They died in America in the early part of the year 1874. The American dwarf, Charles S. Stratton, \u201cTom Thumb,\u201d was exhibited here in 1844; and subsequently, Mr. Albert Smith gave the narrative of his ascent of Mont Blanc, his lecture being illustrated by some cleverly-painted dioramic views of the perils and sublimities of the Alpine regions. Latterly, the Egyptian Hall has been almost continually used for the exhibition of feats of legerdemain, the most successful of these\u2014if one may judge from the \u201crun\u201d which the entertainment has enjoyed\u2014being the extraordinary performances of Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke.<\/p>\n

From Old and New London: A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places, Vol. 4 (1887) by Walter Thornbury<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Previously on { feuilleton }
\n\u2022 Martinka & Co. catalogue, 1899<\/a>
\n\u2022 Learned Pigs and other moveables of wonder<\/a>
\n\u2022 Magicians<\/a>
\n\u2022 Hodgson versus Houdini<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, circa 1896. The Egyptian Hall, the front of which forms one of the most noticeable features on the southern side of Piccadilly, nearly opposite to Bond Street, was erected in the year 1812, from the designs of Mr. G. F. Robinson, at a cost of \u00a316,000, for a museum of natural … Continue reading “Maskelyne and Cooke at the Egyptian Hall”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New blog post: Maskelyne and Cooke at the Egyptian Hall","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,2,12450,4,46],"tags":[13791,13790],"class_list":["post-27739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-art","category-conjuring","category-design","category-theatre","tag-george-alfred-cooke","tag-john-nevil-maskelyne"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pq7rV-7dp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}