Auctioneer Chris AlburyA COLLECTION of early photographs of the doomed Crystal Palace, one of the most celebrated buildings in Victorian Britain, are set to fetch up to £5,000 at auction in Swindon.

The 47 prints of the iron and glass palace, which hosted the Great Exhibition in 1851 before being destroyed by fire in 1936, were taken by Philip Henry Delamotte.

The collection is one of several portfolios of albumen prints produced by Delamotte of the palace and is being sold by auctioneers Dominic Winter next Wednesday.

The Crystal Palace, which contained more than a million square feet of glass, was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton as the venue for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, central London.

It housed more than 13,000 exhibits and was visited by some six million people.

When the Great Exhibition closed, the palace was reconstructed in Sydenham Hill, south-east London, where it was opened by Queen Victoria in 1854.

The photographs, which are presented in a book box, are believed to date from the late 1850s or early 1860s.

The collection includes images of historically-themed rooms in the Palace, containing copies of ancient artefacts.

One picture shows two huge figures sitting on a dais high above the Nineveh Room, which is decorated with palms and a pond, while another depicts a line of mummies in the Egyptian Room.

Chris Albury, of auctioneers Dominic Winter, said that Delamotte had taken photographs of the relocation of the Palace which collectors have been aware of for some time.

But these shots show the period after the reconstruction was completed and are far rarer, he added.

"We can't say that any of the images are unique, but we haven't been able to ascertain that any of the major photo collections have anything like these," he said.

"It seems to be the largest collection of its type that has so far come to light."

To contact the auction house call 01793 611340.

Barrie Hudson