The Great Tower of London
Riverside, CA: Bo Press Miniature Books, 2022. Pat Sweet describes herself as creating illuminated miniature books of curiosity, humor, and delight. She creates both miniature (under 3 inches) and macro-miniature (under 1 inch) books. This book is from a small open edition, which is signed by the artist. According to the book artist: "The Eiffel Tower was the main entrance for the Exposition Universelle, organized to celebrate the anniversary of the French Revolution. A competition was held for the design of the tower, which was won by Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nougier. Gustave Eiffel got the construction commission for a very small fee in return for a portion of the gate for the length of the Exposition plus twenty years. In 1890, Sir Edward Watkin, a British MP, held a design competition for a ”Great Tower of London” that would have rivaled or surpassed Eiffel’s tower in Paris. Sixty-eight designs were submitted. The Great Tower of London was, of course, meant to be taller than the Eiffel Tower, and like the Eiffel Tower, temporary. It was meant to be the centerpiece of an amusement park in Wembley, easily reachable by train (Watkin was Chairman of the Metropolitan Railway). As with the Eiffel Tower, the design would be decided by a competition. In spite of many of the designs being slightly loony, or VERY similar to Eiffel’s design, Stewart, McLaren and Dunn’s practical design, number 37, was eventually chosen to be awarded the 500 guinea prize. Construction began, but the funding slowly petered out. The full extent of the building, called the London Stump or Watkin’s Folly, is shown on the title page - all 154 feet. The remains were eventually dynamited and buried under Wembley Stadium" Printed on Mohawk superfine paper in Garamond 1911, and bound in a gold-on-black Art Nouveau paper. The slipcase is bound in matching paper. 85 pages. Size: Book - 2 1/2 x 1 5/8 inches; Case - 2 3/4 x 1 3/4 inches. ARTB/091123. Fine. More
