A special gallery of 19th century book illustrations

19th century images of St Helier from book illustrations

Anybody wanting to know what a particular location they are interested in looks like today has only to turn to Google Earth and Street View (with the notable exception of Guernsey, which banned the Google camera cars) for an up-to-date view of the scene. Such access to views of the world would have been unimaginable a decade ago, never mind in the first half of the 19th century, before a single photograph had been taken out-of-doors in Jersey. Before the advent of photography the only pictures of Jersey (and elsewhere) were those drawn and painted by artists. Some of these images made their way into guidebooks and other publications, and thanks to another of the marvels of modern-day technology, they can be viewed online. Our bibliography has an extensive selection of books about Jersey which can be seen in one or more of the online libraries. Most of these contain superb artists' impressions of our island two centuries or more in the past. Some have been available in Jerripedia for some time, but on this page we have drawn together a gallery of 20 images of the town and harbour of St Helier dating from the 18th century onwards

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  The 78-ton brigantine Advocate off Elizabeth Castle in 1849

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  The small town of St Helier viewed from the west in 1709
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  The original harbour and Elizabeth Castle in 1797
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  St Helier in the 18th century
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  A view of the town from the north in 1809
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  St Helier viewed from L'Hermitage to the south, also in 1809
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  Elizabeth Castle from the Harbour - drawn by Robert Mudie in 1840
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  Robert Mudie's view of Halkett Place in 1840
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  Robert Mudie's etching of St Helier Harbour in 1840 - the view is from South Pier
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  Fort Regent by Philip Ouless
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  St Helier Harbour in the mid-19th century
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  The harbour in 1855
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  Picnics at the Hermitage in a work by Felix Benoist
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  A French market depicted by Philip Ouless
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  The Royal Square in 1840 by Robert Mudie
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  A similar view by Philip Ouless
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  South Hill in 1855
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  Queen Victoria arrives
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  The Weighbridge in 1870
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  The dolmen found on Mont de la Ville