The Curiosities of Travel
The steamship and the railway, by the mid 19th century, allowed
the middle and lower middle classes to travel to Europe, and the
Grand Tour came to an end.
Thomas Cook began cheaper continental travel and by the turn of the century was promoting popular tours to the Holy Land. By the 20th century, shipping companies, such as P&O, were taking passengers to India and the Far East. The growth of tourism led to a demand for souvenirs to take home. The Museum has a sizeable collection of objects from the Far East, which may have been collected there. However, travel also brought back an Oriental influence on British designs, for example, the blue and white Willow Pattern seen on china in our Victorian kitchen. Liberty & Co. in Regent Street, London, specialised in selling goods from India and the Orient.
From 1885 to 1887, a Japanese exhibition was held in Knightsbridge, London. It included a Japanese village, with shops, dwellings, tea-houses and Buddhist temple. Japanese artists and craftsmen also came over with their families. They demonstrated the carving of wood and ivory, lantern and fan making, and weaving and embroidery. The Victorian fascination with Japanese fashion and art meant that Japanese souvenirs may well have been bought much closer to home.