The Royal Academy's popular Summer Exhibition has been an annual event since 1769. Today, around a thousand works are selected each year from over 12,000 entries. The exhibition includes paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, architectural design and models, and continues to be the largest open exhibition in the UK. First published in the 1870s, the Summer Exhibition Illustrated presents the highlights of each years show and is a fascinating barometer of changing artistic tastes. The books illustrations (which include a wide range of the works on display and installation shots of the galleries) combine with informative introductions to each of the rooms and an essay on recently appointed Royal Academicians by the art historian Richard Cork to form an indispensable record of this most popular event.