Tunnel book depicting a promenade on the Champs-Élysées

Tunnel book depicting a promenade on the Champs-Élysées

Victoria & Albert Museum Collection

There is an extensive collection of tunnel and peepshow books at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, England. More than 350 of these books were gifted to the museum from collectors Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner (Kahn). The Gestetner’s had possessed the world’s largest collection of 19th-century peepshow books prior to donating them to the museum, which digitized the books to ensure that they can be viewed by the public without being damaged, as many are very fragile (Daley). The peepshows in this collection feature a wide range of scenes from Victorian life as well as faraway places and famous events. V&A curator Catherine Yvard, as interviewed by The Guardian in 2016, stated that the books in this collection “offer wonderful insights into social history. Considering that most of them would have been made quite cheaply, it is a miracle that so many have survived” (Daley). The collection includes numerous books devoted to the Thames Tunnel and the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London (V&A). In addition to 19th century paper tunnel books, the museum has a few solidly built peepshow boxes that are considered to be precursors to the tunnel books. Two of these are 18th century pieces called “perspective views,” created by German engraver Martin Engelbrecht and featuring vocational scenes, such as a painter’s studio and printing workshop (V&A). Additionally, the Gestetner collection contains a piece that is considered one of the oldest tunnel books ever created: a peepshow by H. F. Muller showing a country house and garden, dating back to 1825 (Daley).