Pictures Dated 8th August 2005

'The Death of Napoleon the Great', 5 May 1821, 1825. Artist: Unknown

'The Death of Napoleon the Great', 5 May 1821, 1825. Napoleon Bonaparte (Napoleon I) (1769-1821), Emperor of France 1804-1815. After his defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and his subsequent surrender to the British, he was exiled to the island of St Helena where he died. Here he is surrounded by his household and the Governor of St Helena while a British soldier stands on guard at the door. On a stool by the bed are a sword, a laurel wreath, and a scroll with the names of his main campaigns.

© Art Media / Heritage-Images

Florence Nightingale in her carriage in the Crimea, 1856. Artist: Unknown

Florence Nightingale in her carriage in the Crimea, 1856. Known as Florrie's Trolley it was described as '... a homely vehicle corresponding to the womanly simplicity of her whom it was employed to convey'. In 1854, during the Crimean War (1853-1856), Sidney Herbert, Secretary of State for War, appointed the English nurse Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), a family friend, to introduce female nurses into the British military hospitals in the Crimea. Until the end of the war she worked tirelessly to improve conditions. From The Illustrated London News. (London, 30 August 1856).

© Oxford Science Archive / Heritage-Images

Booklet of instructions for a Fantascope, 1833. Artist: Thomas Mann Baynes

Booklet of instructions for a Fantascope, 1833. The Fantascope or Phenakistoscope was an optical toy depending on persistence of vision for its effect. By spinning a disc picture-side towards a mirror, and looking through the slits which act as shutters, you briefly see the reflection of each successive picture and they appear to move. This title page of a booklet issued with the toy shows scenes from the discs. From Fantascope published by Ackermann and Co. (London, 1833).

© Oxford Science Archive / Heritage-Images