Here are the top 5 things I've found!
1. The 'Orchestron'. Possibly the most incredible musical instrument I've ever seen...
...and a subsequent engraving would seem to indicate that it is best accompanied by a trumpet-playing William Shakespeare?!
2. A rather charming advert for Victorian ready meals.
"IMPROMPTU DINNERS. - At ten minutes' notice, a first-rate dinner [...] can be put on the table by means of RITCHIE AND McCALL'S HOUSEHOLD PROVISIONS, which are the choicest productions of the markets, dressed by a first-rate French cook, and put up in vacuum canisters, so as retain their freshness and flavour for an indefinite period".
3. A massive Victorian wedding cake. I love massive Victorian wedding cakes. There is no indication of scale on this one, but it does seem to be on wheels.
4. Some taxidermied frogs, that are inexplicably shaving. What happens if frogs don't shave?! Do they become furry? Are frogs just shaved mice? Who knows. Maybe the frog with a parasol does.
5.'SUPERB NOVELTIES IN PAPIER MACHE'.
Ah yes, just what I've always wanted. A novelty papier-mache 'regency writing desk' - from no less a person than the Inventor of the Patent Castellated Tooth Brush...!
Happy New Year!
The Secret Victorian
