3-070-879 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ye Old English Fayre at ye Royal Albert Halle, 1881. 'This picturesque and quaint exhibition of antiquarian curiosities, held in the Royal Albert Hall during four days of last week, produced not less than £7540, of which £4300 was from the charges for admission, while £3240 was the proceeds of the sale of fancy articles, to the profit of the Chelsea Hospital for Women. The "Olde English Fayre"...thus proved a great success at Kensington; and it is this week removed to the grounds of the Bolingbroke House Pay Hospital, on Wandsworth-common, where it is kept up three days, from Wednesday to this present Saturday inclusive, for the benefit of that institution...Our front-page Engraving shows the interior of the Royal Albert Hall, with the central area surrounded by the imitative antique house-fronts, representing the street marketplace of an old English town; the shops, distinguished by diverse fantastic signs, being occupied by the lady saleswomen, who did a very brisk trade. The display of coloured pennons and other flags overhead made this gay and festive scene of pleasant bustle all the more attractive'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.