Annals of the Victoriana, Part One of Two

A dedicated team of archivists - myself among them - set themselves to reconstructing the long-famed expedition of the Earl of Nikolassia to the Lexington Reservoir. Hunting through diaries and aged photographs, searching for witnesses to the historic journey, and even visiting the reservoir ourselves to gain a modern perspective on the Earl's journey, our labours have exhausted us for months. Though there is still much work to be done, our labours have borne fruit, and I am very proud to present to you the first part of the photographical record of the Earl's expedition - a record which, we hope, will soon find a place in the London Museum of Science.


1. The Young Earl, flush with triumph after finally making his way down to the reservoir-bed.


2. The loyal manservant, considering how best he may serve his master.


3. The reservoir-base, surveilled while the Earl and manservant still sought a route downward.


4. That scene as it appears today.


5. The roadway of the Ancients, still marvelously intact after decades - centuries, perhaps! - submerged.


6. The Earl, dreadfully imperiled. Only by Providence did he escape a painful fall.


7. Ducks!


8. A view nearer to the Ancients' bridge. The Earl's notes suggest that he took a daguerreotype near this location, though we have been unable to recover anything matching his description.


9. Strangely textured earth, cracked and broken after spending decades underwater.


10. A window from the estate of the Earl, depicting him examining a cluster of queer aquatic plants.

This concludes the collection currently available to us, but we hope to have the remaining dioramas completed soon, including material from the bridge itself and areas beyond.