Aquatint by Pugin and Rowlandson, shows the Great Room from the completion of Barry's paintings until the alteration in 1815. The Great Room. Engraving, 1809.

William Shipley is shown selling winter fuel to the poor at summer prices in a street called the Drapery, in the centre of the town, where he had lodgings and a studio for his professional work as an artist and drawing master from 1747 until 1753. He is being assisted in his calculations by some of the richer Northampton residents who had, after some years' canvass, agreed to subscribe to his fund. The success of his scheme to defeat the Northampton fuel profiteers made Shipley persevere with his plan to raise a national fund for rewarding useful inventions and artistic excellence and in 1753 he came to London with the express purpose of founding a Society of Arts. 28,200 copies sold.

Alternative Christmas card design, image used for the newly designed covers of the Society's journal and other publications. 5,600 copies sold

In 1793, the Society's Gold Medal was adjudged to Captain William Bligh RN, Master of HMS Providence, for his success, the previous year, 'in conveying from the Islands in the South Sea, to...the Islands in the West Indies subject to the Crown of Great Britain, the Breadfruit Tree, in a growing state'. The picture depicts the scene of Bligh's arrival in the West Indies, where in fact he delivered a great variety of plants, in addition to breadfruit, at St Vincent's and Jamaica. Bligh is the officer in the central foreground, carrying a telescope. Bligh had first visited the South Seas as Captain Cook's sailing-master in the Resolution in 1772-74 and it was during this expedition that the breadfruit trees was discovered at Otaheite. His first attempt to transplant it, whilst Master of the Bounty in 1788-89, ended in the notorious mutiny. a hydrographer and botanist of distinction as well as a thoroughly competent seaman, he was in later life elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. After his unhappy experiences as Governor of New South Wales in 1808-1810, he returned to England, was promoted to Flag rank and died in December 1817. 39,000 copies sold.

In 1872 the Society offered prizes for improvements in the design of London cabs. Many of the leading cab proprietors and builders of the day put forward their vehicles. These were submitted to extensive testing, including a journey in procession from Kensington to the City and back, by a special committee of the Society, which suggested detailed practical improvements to six of them. Eventually four of the improved cabs were awarded prizes of £30 each. The picture shows the scene in the grounds of Malborough House on 1st November 1872, when the Prince of Wales, President of the Society, inspected the winning cabs. The Journal reports that His Royal Highness 'expressed himself pleased with the vehicles' and 'gave an order for one for use at Sandringham'. The Prince is depicted in the left foreground with members of the Society's Council and on the extreme right is seen the Princess of Wales with her children. 49,500 copies sold.

This painting was commissioned from the artist in 1863 by Members' subscriptions as part of the Society's memorial to the Prince Consort's Presidency (1843-1861). Together with a companion portrait of the Prince himself (by C.W. Cope, RA) it was hung in the Great Room. Both pictures remained there until the alterations to the Society's House in 1922-23 when they were removed to their present positions on the main staircase. In Horsley's painting The Queen and her children are shown as they would have been in 1851, the year of the Great Exhibition, which Prince Albert so largely inspired and guided. The young Prince of Wales is holding a plan of the Exhibition building. The other children depicted are (in order of age) The Princess Royal, Princess Alice, Prince Alfred (subsequently Duke of Edinburgh), Princess Helena, Princess Louise and little Prince Arthur (who as Duke of Connaught was to assume the Presidency in 1911). 43,125 copies sold.

During the 1920's the Society mounted a campaign for the preservation of ancient cottages. It was supported by the then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, by Thomas Hardy and by many other prominent men of the day. Considerable funds were raised and amongst those buildings which the Society was successful in saving were the three Thomas a Becket cottages near Worthing, Sussex, the group known as Arlington Row at Bilbury in Gloucestershire and some 30 half timbered cottages near Shrewsbury. The major achievement of the campaign was the purchase in 1929 of West Wycombe, which though picturesque, was then in a very poor and neglected condition and about to be put up for sale in sixty lots. In the course of a few years the village was put into good order and in February 1934 the Society formally handed it over to the National Trust for permanent preservation. A plaque commemorating this achievement, reproduced on the back of the card, is affixed to the archway leading into the courtyard of the former Black Boy Inn in West Wycombe. 67,972 copies sold.

Reproduced from the painting in the Society's collection, attributed to Joseph Nash (1808-1878). The Queen, accompanied by Prince Albert, the Princess Royal and Prince Alfred, together with the King of Portugal, appear in the centre of the picture, amidst a huge throng of spectators. The Great Exhibition of 1851, house in Sir Joseph Paxton's original Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, was set up by the Society of Arts as a showcase for the industry of all nations but especially that of Britain, then nearing its apogee. When the exhibition closed the structure was bought by the Crystal Palace Company, dismantled, and in an enlarged form devised by Paxton, re-erected at Sydenham, a labour of an immensity in keeping with the concept of the exhibition itself and with Victorian ambition and confidence. Until its destruction by Fire in November 1936 the 'new' Crystal Palace was the leisure resort of vast numbers of Londoners and a centre for recreational and cultural activities. Particularly notable for fostering musical appreciation in this country were the series of concerts initiated and organized by Sir George Grove, first Secretary to the Crystal Palace Company and Secretary of the Society of Arts at the time of the Great Exhibition. 70,530 copies sold.

This painting was bequeathed to the Society in 1861 by Lady Brown, widow of Captain Sir Samuel Brown, RN (1776-1852), the engineer of the bridge and for many years a member of the Society. Brown invented an improved method of manufacturing links for chain cables which greatly extended their use in the construction of suspension bridges and landing piers. Brown's bar link was first employed in the Union Bridge, completed in July 1820 and subsequently in the Chain Pier at Brighton. The bridge is 18ft wide, 368ft long and the distance between the points of suspension is 432ft. It was the earliest suspension bridge erected in Great Britain calculated for the passage of loaded carriages. The painting itself was executed before the bridge was built to show the effect it would have on the landscape. The large building discernible on the skyline in the centre of the picture, standing high on the northern bank of the Tweed is Paxton House, built to the designs of James and John Adam in the 1750's, with later additions by Robert Reid. Like the bridge, it still stands in fine condition. 34,191 copies sold.

Taken from a rare mezzotint from the Society's collection. At 20 years of age Lawrie received a bounty of 30 guineas in 1776 from the Society for 'disclosing his method of printing mezzotint in colour'. Lawrie copied the bird form one brought back by Captain Cook in the previous year at the conclusion of his second great voyage of discovery.

Shows a prize giving ceremony in the Great Room. 23,000 copies sold.

Taken from Dickinson's 'Pictures of the Great Exhibition 1851', a copy of which is held in the RSA archive. Scene shows the revolving lighthouse in the foreground and further back the Ross telescope. The idea of the exhibition originated with members of the then Society of Arts, including Francis Whishaw, Secretary from 1843 to 1845 and Henry Cole. Both were involved in the planning of the exhibition and the concept was championed by Prince Albert, then President of the Society. It was largely his influence which led to government backing for the exhibition as an international event. As such it became too large for the Society to be directly involved and responsibility passed to a Royal Commission. 28,000 copies sold.

The inital letter and opening words of Chapter Two of Saint Matthew's Gospel, together with a wood engraving showing the three wise men with the Virgin and child. Typography, engraving and design are by Eric Gill and form part of The Four Gospels, produced by the Golden Cockrel Press in 1931. 17,000 copies sold

Transfer drawing in pen and watercolour by Thomas Bewick for the engraving in his History of British Birds Vol I. 1797. Several hundred of such preparatory drawings and watercolours have survived and many are considered outstanding in their own right. The drawing is in the collection in the British Museum. In 1767 Bewick became apprenticed to Ralph Bielby of Newcastle upon Tyne and so commenced his career as a wood engraver. He received a premium or prize from the Society for engravings to illustrate a book of fables published in 1776. On being given the choice of a gold medal or seven guineas he chose the latter and presented it to his mother. Several of his pupils later also gained premiums. a fact of which he was very proud. 21,000 copies sold.

Fifth painting in a series entitled 'The Progress of Human Knowledge and Culture', displayed in the Great Room. It depicts officers and members of the Society distributing its awards to encourage arts, manufactures and commerce in the presence of the then Prince of Wales, later George IV. Beyond is an idealised representation of the river front of Somerset House and the dome of St Pauls. In the centre, a young female prizewinner is being presented to the Duchess of Northumberland by Mrs Montagu, and the Duchess of Rutland and Devonshire are grouped behing them, a reminder that membership of the Society was from its earliest years open to women. The founder of the Society is seated bottom left. 15,000 copies sold

The volume of prints from which this image is taken has been in the possession of the Society since it was first published. The Society is listed among the subscribers to the work, which would have been of particular relevance given its longstanding interest in printing (it regularly gave prizes for good examples of this craft). In a letter dated 13 March 1833, Lear wrote :'I have received from the Society a sheet of transferring lithographic paper, desiring my opinion of its suitableness for that purpose, and had I been at all accustomed to practice transferring, I should have felt very glad to have given it. As however I understand nothing of that part of the art of Lithography I have taken it to Mr Hullmandel.' Charles Hullmandel, the printer of 'Illustrations', received a silver medal from the Society in 1819 'for a lithographic drawing'. Lear was given permission to draw from life the parrots belonging to the Zoological Society of London. 18,000 copies sold.

Part of a sheet set of designs that won a travel award in the 1996 RSA Student Design Awards Scheme for the Postage Stamp brief: 'It's Christmas'. The RSA Student Design Awards scheme celebrates the benefits that industry and education can bring to each other. Each year approximately 3000 students enter the scheme which is supported by commercial companies, trust funds, the European Commission and individuals

Part of a set of designs that was highly commended in the 1996 RSA Student Design Awards Scheme for the Postage Stamp brief:'It's Christmas'. The RSA Student Design Awards scheme celebrates the benefits that industry and education can bring to each other. Each year approximately 3000 students enter the scheme which is supported by commercial companies, trust funds, the European Commission and individuals. 15,000 copies sold

English Holly, Ilex aquifolium, photographed in the New Forest, Hampshire, one afternoon in late December by Andrea Jones, FRSA

The painting was commissioned by the Society as part of a memorial to the Prince Consort's Presidency of the Society