Overview

This book contains over one hundred images of the Greater London area before 1800 from maps, drawings, manuscripts, printed books and engravings, all from the Gough Collection at the Bodleian Library. Examples are drawn from the present Greater London to contrast town and countryside at the time. A fascinating insight into life in Georgian London. By the end of the eighteenth century London was the second largest city in the world, its relentless growth fuelled by Britain's expanding empire. Before the age of photography, the most widely used means of creating a visual record of the changing capital was through engravings and drawings, and those that survive today are invaluable in showing us what the capital was like in the century leading up to the Industrial Revolution. This book contains over one hundred images of the Greater London area before 1800 from maps, drawings, manuscripts, printed books and engravings, all from the Gough Collection at the Bodleian Library. Examples are drawn from the present Greater London to contrast town and countryside at the time. Panoramas of the river Thames were popular illustrations of the day, and the extraordinarily detailed engravings made by the Buck brothers are reproduced here. The construction, and destruction, of landmark bridges across the river are also shown in contemporary engravings. Prints made of London before and after the Great Fire show how artists and engravers responded to contemporary events such as executions, riots, fires and even the effects of a tornado. They also recorded public spectacles, creating beautiful images of firework displays and frost fairs on the river Thames. This book presents rare material from the most extensive collection on British topography assembled in this period by a private collector, providing a fascinating insight into life in Georgian London.

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9781851244126

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Reviews

Bernard Nurse's glorious book is divided into convenient sections, illustrating maps and scenes of the City, Westminster, the Thames, and London's fashionable environs. . . . Miscellaneous prints which do not easily fit into this scheme instead form an interesting short section on topics such as law and order and London's enthusiasm for firework displays. Each illustration is furnished with a useful commentary. Lavishly illustrated with full page reproduction.--Brian Green The Dulwch Society (09/28/2017) This new book by Bernard Nurse, the distinguished former Librarian of the Society of Antiquaries, has many facets, not all of which are revealed by the title. At face value it provides a survey of the topographical works on paper depicting London up to 1800. Extending from this it gives an interesting overview on the nature, purpose and characteristics of topographical depiction in Britain touching upon the value of topographical records to the historian and how our understanding of that value has changed. The core of the book however consists of a general historical survey of London, based on the prints and drawings included in the book and organised geographically and thematically. --Jeremy Smith The London Journal (10/10/2017)

Author Information

Bernard Nurse is the former Librarian of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

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