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.
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.
Arlington Row dates from the 14th century, originally bult as a wool store it was converted into cottages for weavers in the 17th century. Arlington Row was rescued by the Society during its campaign for the Preservation of Ancient Cottages. In 1927 the owner of the Bibury cottages, unable to keep them, and their beautiful slate roofs, in repair, offered them to the Society for a comparatively small sum. Much more help was needed to repair them but the money was raised through a subscription fund headed by an American James Hazen Hyde. The donor's conditions that the rents should not be raised and that the exisitng tenants remain undisturbed were faithfully kept and in Septmeber 1930 the cottages, fully restored under the direction of Mr P Morley Horder, were formally handed over to the keeping of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Trust. In 1949 the property was made over to the National Trust. Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the campaign in 1929, G K Chesterton described the Society's attitude in saving such ancient dwellings: 'Look, here is a definite creation of man made under more normal, more dignified and more sane social conditions. It is like a Greek temple surviving in an age of barbarians.... This belongs to the history of humanity' Image of the tablet erected by the Society on reverse of card. 59,250 copies sold.
This row of cottages facing St. Mary's Church was restored in 1953-54 by means of a grant made by the Society to the owners, the National Trust. The work used up the balance of the Fund for the Preservation of Ancient Cottages which the Society established after a national campaign in the 1920s and which came to the aid of notable groups of vernacular buildings in various parts of the country. The timber framed Chiddingstone cottages, some of them tile-hung, others partly of brick, date from the 16th and 17th centuries. 80,725 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 back of the House as originally completed faced on to the backs of other nearby, now non-existent, buildings and was hardly visible to the general public. The widening of the Strand in the 1920's brought it into a prominence never contemplated by the architects, Robert and James Adam, and revealed its untidy and ugly appearance. Sir George Sutton, then a Vice-President of the Society, undertook to pay the whole cost of re-designing and decorating it. The work was completed in 1927. It was carried out by Aston Webb, whose pilasters carrying a pediment were based on the design of the existing, original John Adam Street facade. The surmounting figure on the skyline was designed by Walter Gilbert. The reliefs in between the pilasters, symbolizing Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, were modelled by E J Bradford. 37,925 copies sold.
Illustrations of inventions are reproduced from drawings based on engravings which originally appeared in the Society's Transactions. 33,500 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
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.
Thomas Malton the younger (1748-1804) is best known for his 'Picturesque Tour through the Cities of London and Westminster (1792), etchings of some 100 drawings including a view of the House of the Society of Arts, which had awarded him a premium in 1774, coincidentally, the year of the building's completion. The picture shows on the left, the pedimented block, five lights wide, of what is now No. 18. This, together with the bow fronted building on the right of the picture still survives. But the house next to No. 18, the adjacent, graceful shops and buildings in the Strand, glimpsed at the end of the street, were demolished long ago. The Society did not acquire the freehold of its main house (No. 8) and of the coeval residence for the Secretary (No. 6) until 1922. In December 1977 it purchased the freehold of Nos 4 and 2 and of 18 Adam Street. The Society now owns the largest surviving range of original Adelphi builidngs, all of them designed by Robert and James Adam. The isometric drawing on the back of the card shows the relationship of these various houses. It also indicates the extent of the premises below ground, including huge vaults which extend far beneath John Adam Street. 44,147 copies sold.
Reproduced from the original in the Society's collection. For this work the artist, then aged 15, was awarded the Society's prize of five guineas, the first premium in its class. On the recommendation of the responsible Committee, 'as a further reward for...her Extraordinary Merit' she received a Silver Medal. The flowerpiece was shown in the first ever public exhibition of contemporary British painters and sculptors held in the Great Room of the Society's premises (in Denmark Court, off the Strand) in 1760. Mary Moser (1744-1819) continued to develop her skill and reputation as a flower painter in her later career. The major surviving example of her work in this genre is a room decorated for Queen Charlotte at Frogmore. She was the daughter of the medallist George Michael Moser, who was to become a founder and the first Keeper of the Royal Academy. She was also a foundation member of the Academy and one of the two original women Academicians, the other being Angelica Kauffman. 60,205 copies sold.
Original painting was awarded a prize of five guineas and a silver medal in 1759. The artist was 15 years old and the silver medal was given in addition to the advertised monetary prize 'as a further reward for her extraordinary merit'. Mary Moser was a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768 and one of the first two women Academicians. 11,000 sold
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
Painted by Anna Zinkeisen. In 1758 the Society of Arts offered prizes for what were known as 'ship's blocks', i.e. scale models of ships, in order to 'ascertain by experiments the principles on which a good vessel is founded'. Water resistance and resistance to rolling were two of the main qualities it was desired to test. It was not until 1761 that sufficient models had been submitted for the prizes but that year six entries, 4 32-gun frigates and 2 74-gun ships, were tried at Peerless Pool, near Old Street, in the City of London. 26,500 copies sold.
Painted by Anna Zinkeisen. In 1758 the Society of Arts offered prizes for what were known as 'ship's blocks', i.e. scale models of ships, in order to 'ascertain by experiments the principles on which a good vessel is founded'. Water resistance and resistance to rolling were two of the main qualities it was desired to test. It was not until 1761 that sufficient models had been submitted for the prizes but that year six entries, 4 32-gun frigates and 2 74-gun ships, were tried at Peerless Pool, near Old Street, in the City of London. 26,500 copies sold.
Mermaid Street, Rye, one of the most beautiful and well known thoroughfares in England, is in the heart of the citadel of Rye, an area of cobbled streets which has been a Conservation Area since the Civic Amenities Act of 1967. In 1985, as a result of representations by the Rye Conservation Society to the East Sussex County Council and the ministry of Transport, the parking of cars was prohibited in the street and the need for unsightly yellow lines waived. 29,500 copies sold.
Mr Davis's Chimney Brush was awarded the Society's Silver medal in 1806. In a letter dated 17 October 1806, B M Forster, who witnessed its original use and signed a certificate of approbation wrote :'I am convinced that chimnies may be swept as cleanly and effectually, as is commonly done with climbing-boys, so that the difference to the families who employ your machine will be, that they have the same comfort of a clean chimney, and are satisfied that they no longer use a method which is full of horrors and a disgrace to a civilised country'. The illustration of Joseph Davis's invention is taken from the Transaction of the Society, Vol XXV (1807). He received a number of other awards from the Society for his household inventions. Figures A are four brushes for sweeping the four sides of the chimney; figures B show two of the four springs which expand the machine to chimnies of all sizes; C represents the brush at the top of the machine proper for cleansing the pots; figures D show four lines to draw the brushes near together by a cord E, so that the machine may be forced up the chimney with greater facility. F shows the string to expand the brushes when the machine is at the top of the flue. 16,000 copies sold.
First painting in a series entitled 'The Progress of Human Knowledge and Culture', displayed in the Great Room. This painting 'exhibits mankind in a savage state, full of imperfection, inconvenience and misery': not least being the savage animals in the middle and far distance. Orpheus himself, who occupies the centre of the composition, is extolling to his auditors the values of human culture. The countenances of those on the right hand who are attending to the divine lessons show 'the effect of those benefits which accrue to Mankind from the True Philosophy and Religion'. 19,500 copies sold.
Fifth painting in a series entitled 'The Progress of Human Knowledge and Culture', displayed in the Great Room. Key to some of the portraits on reverse of card. 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 Paul's. 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 behind 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.