1861 (year of production) Wood engraving mounted on grey card
175 x 295 mm. Purchase: Puttick and Simpson Auctioneers, Leicester Square, London 1924
Doyle's 'Bird's-Eye Views of Society'- series consists of sixteen images which were published in Cornhill Magazine between April 1861 and October 1862. Doyle wrote humorous articles to accompany each image.
A large crowd of well-dressed people crammed into a room with more trying to come through the door that leads into the hallway. A staircase in the background is also full of people. Some people are passing around plates and a long buffet is laid out to the right of the room with servants in attendance. Behind them is an screen with Asian images that hides a person drinking from a bottle. Pictures of historical events and Middle Eastern (or Northern African) scenes are hung on the rear wall. Doyle's initials and 'dicky' bird are in the lower left-hand corner, the Dalziel signature in the lower right-hand corner. The page is yellowed with age and had two folds.