1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910454449403321

Autore

Otter Chris

Titolo

The Victorian eye [[electronic resource] ] : a political history of light and vision in Britain, 1800-1910 / / Chris Otter

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, 2008

ISBN

1-281-96612-6

9786611966126

0-226-64078-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (393 p.)

Disciplina

303.48/3

Soggetti

Lighting - Great Britain - History - 19th century

Lighting - Great Britain - History - 20th century

Lighting - Social aspects - Great Britain - History

Lighting - Political aspects - Great Britain - History

Optical engineering - Great Britain - History - 19th century

Visual perception

Electronic books.

Great Britain Social life and customs 19th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [339]-363) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Light, Vision, and Power -- 1. The Victorian Eye: The Physiology, Sociology, and Spatiality of Vision, 1800-1900 -- 2. Oligoptic Engineering: Light and the Victorian City -- 3. The Age of Inspectability: Vision, Space, and the Victorian City -- 4. The Government of Light: Gasworks, Gaslight, and Photometry -- 5. Technologies of Illumination, 1870-1910 -- 6. Securing Perception: Assembling Electricity Networks -- Conclusion: Patterns of Perception -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

During the nineteenth century, Britain became the first gaslit society, with electric lighting arriving in 1878. At the same time, the British government significantly expanded its power to observe and monitor its subjects. How did such enormous changes in the way people saw



and were seen affect Victorian culture?  To answer that question, Chris Otter mounts an ambitious history of illumination and vision in Britain, drawing on extensive research into everything from the science of perception and lighting technologies to urban design and government administ