EXHIBITION, INDUSTRIAL (Fr. Exposition de Industrie). Exhibitions of this kind origi nated in France, where the first took place in 1798, at the suggestion of the marquis d'Aveze. It was held in the Maison d'Orsay and its grounds; but it appears to have been rather a collection of such objects of French art-manufacture as could be borrowed from their owners, than an assembling together of competing artists and manufacturers, with their respective works. It is, nevertheless, interesting as a historical fact, having been the first of these displays of which we have any clear and authentic record; and its more important effect was to familiarize the French mind with national exhibitions.
In the same year, another exhibition was held in Paris, on a grander scale, and with considerable success. It embraced all kinds of manufactures; whereas that at the liaison d'Orsay was chiefly devoted to those of artistic merit; hence the credit has been claimed for the latter one of being the commencement of industrial exhibitions, cer tainly, however, without justice or truth.
In consequence of the obvious utility of the exhibitions of 1798, another was held in 1802, under the consulate of Napoleon, with equal success, and thus led to the estab lishment of triennial exhibitions, which were, with occasional interruptions from politi cal causes, held until the novel idea was originated in this country, in 1850, by his royal highness the prince consort, of holding a universal exhibition open to all corners.
That was not, however, the first industrial exhibition held in the United Kingdom. The Royal Dublin society, possibly from the French sympathies of Ireland during the revolution, as early as 1829 adopted the plan of triennial exhibitions, which was several veers before any other part of the United Kingdom; they took place in the society's rooms in Dublin. Like the French, however, they at first comprised only specimens of native industry.
In England, the first well-organized exhibitions were those of the Cornish polytech nic society, in which were illustrated the mineral wealth of the co., and its mechanical
appliances for mining purposes, etc. These were continued annually without intermis sion until 1850. Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool also held local exhibitions; that of the second town was by far the most important, and is fairly entitled to be consid ered the prototype of the 1851 exhibition; indeed, it is by no means certain that both did not arise from the same cause—the agitation in favor of a great national exhibition, commenced by his royal highness the prince consort and the society of arts as early as 1848. The Birmingham exhibition was held in 1849.
The Manchester exhibitions were the earliest held in the great English industrial towns, but they, like those which were held in the mechanics' institutes of Liverpool and Leeds, and subsequently in the collegiate institution of Liverpool, had a mixed character, the illustrations of art and manufactures being pretty well mingled with objects of natural history and various other curiosities, for the amusement of the vis itors. That of Birmingham, however, was much more completely devoted to the true objects of industrial exhibitions; it was held in the spacious apartments of Bingley hall, and was a great success, especially when it is borne in mind that it was carried out solely by private enterprise. The multitudinous manufactures of that wonderful place were amply illustrated, and a most careful attention was paid to the exhibition of those objects of art which were best calculated to foster the taste of designers, and others, whose duty it was to give refinement to the masses, by gradually improving those objects of necessity and ornament in every-day use. The success of the Bingley hall exhibition no doubt acted most beneficially upon that of 1851 which was approaching, for it gave an unmistakable impetus to the industrial pursuits of the people of Birming ham, and through them acted widely upon others.