Book excerpt: A renowned chemist, photographer and scholar, Robert Hunt was a passionate advocate of popular education and the ideal choice to author an accessible and informative handbook to the greatest educational event of the nineteenth century. Published in 1851, while the Great Exhibition was still welcoming visitors in Hyde Park, Hunt's Hand-Book is an encyclopaedia of Victorian material science, chemistry, engineering and design. While an array of catalogues, pamphlets and guides told the story of the exhibition's conception and construction, Hunt reserved his pages for a detailed and comprehensive account of the exhibits themselves. Consequently, this two-volume work quickly established itself as the authoritative guide to the exhibits, their manner of manufacture and practical application in the modern world. Aided by a series of meticulous plans, Volume 1 leads readers through the celebrated Medieval Court and spectacular and varied displays of agricultural produce, weaponry, and porcelain.