Downstairs the Barber has a case display of Royal Academy exhibition catalogues from their library, beginning with an early listing of the works in THE THIRD exhibition, held in 1771:-
The catalogue had shrunk to a handlist by 1880:-
But at least it had a plan of the galleries, with a SCULPTURE GALLERY (the current Gallery 6) and a LECTURE ROOM next to the OCTAGON, as well as a route out of Gallery 2 into a REFRESHMENT ROOM:-
By 1957, it had shrunk further (was this to save on printing costs or was people’s eyesight better ?):-
Then there is a curiosity. In 1815, someone printed a catalogue of The Rejected Pictures…by a distinguished member of the hanging committee:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
It would be so interesting to know the secret reasons for their rejections. In any year.
It’s a jury and always has been, done necessarily at reasonable speed because there have always been so many entries. Charles