ENTRY TICKET TO THE FONTHILL ABBEY SALE OF 1823

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ENTRY TICKET TO THE FONTHILL ABBEY SALE OF 1823 Engraving on toned cardsigned by the auctioneer Harry Phillips and numbered No 918 (lower right) and with inscription (on the reverse)18 x 11.5cm (7 x 4½in.)The ticket is made out to a Mr Langridge and Miss Lidler [] and signed by the auctioneer Harry Phillips admitting two visitors for any two days of the public viewing ahead of the 37 day auction of William Beckford's vast art collection in September and October 1823. The engraving showing the Eastern Towers of the Abbey with the Central Tower beyond within a Gothic surround, was engraved by Thomas Higham after the drawing by the architect Stedman Whitwell.William Beckford (1760-1844) accrued large debts as a consequence of the collapse in the West Indian sugar market. He therefore invited the auctioneer James Christie the younger (1773-1831) to put Fonthill and its contents up for sale in 1822. 72,000 copies of the auction catalogue were sold and during the months of August and September 1822 between 600 and 700 people visited each day. In a a sudden change of plan and due to the huge interest caused, Beckford sold the Abbey and its contents at an inflated price of £330,000 to a wealthy Scottish gunpowder dealer called John Farquhar. The 1823 auction was therefore not instigated by Beckford, but by Farquhar and the sale was conducted by Harry Phillips (d.1839) who had formerly been senior clerk to James Christie senior (1730-1803).Public interest was again immense and the Duke of Wellington was said to have visited. William Hazlitt described the event as 'a desert of magnificence, a glittering waste of laborious idleness, a cathedral turned into a toy shop'. Beckford retired to Landsdown Crescent Bath, and purchased a number of items back from the auction. The main tower of Fonthill Abbey collapsed in 1825, and much of the vast structure was rapidly demolished thereafter leaving only the western end intact,

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