Magic lantern slide circa 1900.Victorian/Edwardian.Social History. The Beauties of Venice,photographs created in 1888 Joseph John William ACWORTH F.I.C., F.C.S.J. The Beauties of Venice . Canal Scene, instantaneous. There are no fewer than 150 canals intercepting Venice in various directions; these canals being connected by 378 bridges of more or less artistic design, and generally built of stone or marble. Most of the houses rise immediately from the canals, sometimes they are separated from them by a narrow street, or ' calle,'' such as we see in the view before us, these streets being paved with broad slabs of stone, sometimes with brick or asphalte [B] The view being instantaneous gives us a good idea of the life pervading the city, which is now becoming one of the greatest seaports of the Adriatic.