panorama 1794; panorama and catch penny 1795

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Fri Nov 14 15:57:35 UTC 2008


Massachusetts Mercury, published as The Mercury; Date: 07-15-1794;
Volume: IV; Issue: 5; Page: [4]  (EAN):

(adv.) "Columbian Exhibition.  ...  N. B. The building erected in
Orange-Tree-Lane, is only for the purpose of showing a Panorama of
London and Westminster.  [dated] July 11."

"panorama" interdates OED draft revision Mar. 2008  1793 -- 1796.

The OED explains " Robert Barker exhibited the first panorama at
Holyrood in 1788 and subsequently at a building on Haymarket in 1789.
Most early quots. refer to paintings exhibited by him (and later his
son, Henry Aston Barker) in buildings on and around Leicester Square
after 1792."  Is this the first appearance of a panorama outside
Leicester Square?

The above was prompted by my coming across the following:

_The Diary of William Bentley ..._, Vol. 2, January, 1793 --
December, 1803 (Gloucester, Mass: Peter Smith, 1962).

page 126
1795 Feb. 4

"At Boston I saw the PANORAMA   , a catch penny shew, but not without
its merit in our Infant Country."

"catch penny" (adj.) interdates OED 2nd. ed.  1759 -- 1850.

I assume the shewman in Boston was Ed Sullivan.

Joel

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