Artist Unidentified.
Title: Custom House London/La Douane de Londres.
Signed and Titled in the plate: London, J. T. Wood & J. Windsor. 33. Holywell St. Strand. Custom House London/La Douane de Londres. Presumably, Joseph Thomas Wood published bilingual cards for international visitors of the Great Exhibition 1851.
Dimensions: 4 1/2" x 6".
Publisher: Joseph Thomas Wood, leading printer, publisher, books and stationery seller of Victorian Era.
Publisher: John Abraham Windsor (1850- fl.), Meredith Street, Clerkenwell, London, enameled card manufacturer, one of the top English embossers of the time.
Date: Circa 1851.
Materials and Techniques: Steel line engraving on "enamel card." Another name is "porcelain card."
Condition: Slight surface abrasion. A detailed condition report is available on demand.
Museums and Libraries: The British Museum and V&A Museum keep several cards.
Note: There is more about J. T. Wood in the informative post "J. T. Wood of the Strand" by Laurence Worms (Ash Rare Books) in his blog "The Bookhunter on Safari."
Laurence Worms refers to the enamel card "Statue of King William the Fourth" as the only evidence of J. T. Wood and J. A. Windsor's collaboration. (The British Museum, No. 1880,1113.3882). Our enamel card "Custom House London/La Douane de Londres," published circa 1851, confirms this assumption.