John Thomas Smith was born in 1766 and devoted his life to making detailed drawings of London and Westminster. A year after this book was published he was appointed Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, a post he held until his death in 1833.
The frontis states "Not only views of buildings, which in many instances no longer exist, and for the most part were never before published, but some account of places and customs either unknown, or overlooked by the London Historians."
The book is equally divided between Sacred, Public and Domestic architecture. The detail on the drawings is stunning, and his prints are also alive with real people, recorded as they go about their daily business. He is particularly fond of depicting men working up ladders and disabled passers-by (presumably ex-servicemen from the Napoleonic wars).
There are descriptions of how things were built, who built them and where to get the best available materials. His xenophobia and other facets of his character inadvertently become apparent and the whole is entertaining and informative on many levels. A perfect companion to Lockie's Topography of London from 1810.
Click on the thumbnails below to see larger versions of four of the illustrations.
Sacred Architecture Leadenhall Chapel, May 1812
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Public Architecture South-west view of Bethlem Hospital and London Wall, August 1814
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Domestic Architecture North-east view of an old house lately standing in Sweedon's Passage, Grub Street, July 1791
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Domestic Architecture Winchester Street, London Wall, May 1804
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CAVEAT: I am proud of the high quality of everything on this site, but I did not make this book and do not want you to be even slightly disappointed. Whilst every one is new, in that it has never been used, they have all been stored in cardboard boxes for over 25 years and are not absolutely pristine. There are no defects, foxing or anything that affects readability, but some have a feint brown tint on the edge of some pages (not the face) where they were in contact with a slightly damp box and a very vague 'mustiness', commensurate with their age.
Reproductions of other such rare works are much more expensive and so the price allows for these tiny flaws. This is an opportunity to own a fascinating piece of London's history, but please click the photographs below to check before you buy. There is a limited number, once they're gone, they're gone.
Airing, ready to be checked
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Occasional feint brown marks or tints (on the outside edge only) These are the worst cases
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No foxing or defects on the text pages
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No foxing or defects on the illustrations
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* Royal Mail have dramatically increased overseas postage rates.
With apologies, this book is therefore now only available to UK residents.
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Roger Bilham, a visitor to this site, has compiled an index to this edition of the book and kindly allowed me to put it here for others to use.
A range in italics indicates a plate between these pages.
As with any book of this age, some names are not spelled as they are now.
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Adam brothers | 78 |
Adelphi | 78 |
Aldgate, Gate of | 40 |
Aldgate House, Bethnal Green | 40, 74 |
All Hallows, church of, Lombard Street | 74 |
Anne, Queen, state coach | 76 |
Arras | 47 |
Arsenic | 49 |
Audley, Sir Thomas | 18 |
Babington, Anthony | 51 |
Ballad singers | 43 |
Barberesses of Drury Lane | 38, 63 |
Barbers' poles | 38 |
Bartholomew Fair | 21, 56 et seq. |
Bassampierre, Monsieur de | 52 |
Bear, King's white | 22 |
Bedford Street | 31 |
Bedfordbury | 34 |
Ben Israel, Menasseh | 19 |
Bethlem Hospital | 28, 29-30, 32, 74 |
Bethlem Hospital, New, St George's Fields | 32 |
Bethlem Prison House | 31, 75 |
Bethlem Tokens | 31 |
Bevis Marks | 19 |
Billet moulding | 1 |
Blanche, Queen of Navarre | 8 |
Blyborough, Suffolk | 75 |
Boleyn, Ann | 50 |
Bolton, Prior | 3 |
Book sellers | 31 |
Boxing | 62, 63 |
Bridewell Hospital | 35 |
Bridge, Mr, organ maker | 3 |
Bridgewater Town Hall | 75 |
British Museum | 43 |
Broughton's Amphitheatre | 62 |
Brutus (Brute) | 80 |
Carfax, Oxford | 75 |
Carleton House | 78 |
Chancery Lane & Fleet Street, corner of | 48, 52-53 |
Charing Cross | 30 |
Charles I | 61 |
Chatham Place | 27 |
Cheapside | 48 |
Cherries on sticks | 42 |
Chicheley, Sir Thomas | 9 |
Chivy Chase | 57 |
Christchurch, Priory of, Aldgate | 18 |
Christ's Hospital | 30 |
Cibber, Caius Gabriel | 32 |
Cipriani, painter | 77 |
City ditch | 31 |
Clarenceux King of Arms | 55 |
Clinch, Joseph | 43 |
Clocks, projecting | 75 |
Clothiers | 31 |
Coach makers | 31 |
Colebrand and Brandamore | 80 |
Collett, Nicholas | 76 |
Conway, William | 61 |
Cook's Court, Carey Street | 65 |
Copper gilt paper | 20 |
Corinaeus | 80 |
Corineus, Corinius | 49, 80 |
Cornhill | 48 |
Cornwall | 80 |
Creechurch Lane | 19 |
Creuse, Mr | 50 |
Cromwell, Oliver | 14, 19 |
Crowle, John Charles | 43 |
Davies, Jeremiah | 50 |
Deep Ditch | 28 |
Digby, Sir Everard | 23 |
Dog fighting | 60 |
Doll, the Pippin Woman | 24 |
Drawbridge, London Bridge | 26 |
Duck Lane | 54 |
Duke Street, West Smithfield | 54, 60-6 |
Duke's Place, Aldgate | 18, 20, 20-21 |
Dutch Metal | 20, 60 |
Dwarf | 50 |
Edward Earl of Lancaster, Leicester & Derby | 8 |
Edward I | 16, 27 |
Edward II | 27 |
Edward III | 15, 16, 30 |
Edward IV | 36 |
Elephant | 23 |
Elizabeth I | 11, 22, 30 |
Elizabeth I, progresses | 48, 50 |
Exeter Change | 75 |
Fairfax, Sir Thomas, General | 67 |
Fawkes, Guy | 23 |
Fig tree | 65 |
Finsbury Square (Finsbury Fields) | 64 |
Fire of London | 4, 26 |
Fishermen | 66 |
Fitz Alwine, Henry | 18 |
Flax dressers | 31 |
Fleet Street & Chancery Lane, corner of | 48, 52-53 |
Flying Barber | 37 |
Flying pieman, Holborn | 24 |
Frost fair | 24 |
Fungi | 65 |
Gardeners | 66 |
Garrick, David | 60 |
Geoffrey of Monmouth | 80 |
Gibbons, Grinling | 74 |
Gifford, Humphry | 39 |
Glazed tiles | 37 |
Gog & Magog | 49, 75, 76, 79, 82 |
Gold lace men | 31 |
Gold recovery | 20 |
Golden (or Golding) Lane | 65 |
Gordon Riots | 40 |
Gotmagot | 49 |
Grape Street | 67 |
Grass Street | 12 |
Grey, Lady Jane | 22 |
Grotesque carvings | 44 |
Grub Street | 24, 64 |
Guildhall | 75, 78 |
Hanover Court, nr. Grub Street | 66, 68-69 |
Harp Alley | 31 |
Hart Street, Crutched Friars | 44, 52-53 |
Henrietta Maria | 61 |
Henry II | 22 |
Henry III | 17, 22, 71 |
Henry V | 71 |
Henry VIII | 30, 34 |
Heydon House | 9 |
Heydon Square | 8 |
Hobson, Cambridge carrier | 51 |
Hogarth | 33, 46 |
Hollar, Winceslaus | 4 |
Holy Trinity, church of, Minories | 73 |
Holy Trinity, Priory of, Aldgate | 18 |
Horse racing | 60 |
Horsey, Samuel | 50 |
Horsham church | 76 |
Hosier Lane, Smithfield | 56, 60-61 |
House numbers | 44 |
House of Commons, wall paintings | 14 |
House signs | 44 |
Howard, Philip, Earl of Arundel | 22 |
Inlayed floors | 47 |
Jack of the Clock (Jack o' the Clockhouse) | 75, 76 |
Jack-Puddings | 43 |
Jaquemar | 76 |
Jews (incl. Dutch & Portuguese) | 19 |
Jews' Fair | 20 |
Johnson, John (Guy Fawkes) | 23 |
Jonson, Ben | 57 |
Killigrew, Charles | 43 |
King's Gate | 19 |
Leaden Hall | 12 |
Leadenhall Chapel | 12, 12-13, 20-21 |
Leadenhall Street | 13, 48, 52, 60-61 |
Leake, John | 4 |
Leathersellers' Company Hall | 73 |
Liquorpond Street Barber | 24 |
Little Moorfields | 64, 68-69 |
Little St Helen, church of, Bishopsgate Street | 73 |
London Bridge | 5, 24, 29-30 |
London Bridge chapel | 25 |
London Bridge Square | 26 |
London Wall | 27, 28, 29-30, 32, 36, 44-45, 60-61, 68 |
Long Acre | 31 |
Long Lane, Smithfield | 67, 68-69 |
Long Meg of Westminster | 37 |
Low Layton, church at | 74 |
Mandeville, Sir John | 82 |
Mary, Queen of Scots | 51 |
Matilda, wife of Henry I | 18 |
Mayor of London, first | 18 |
Mercers | 31 |
Merry-Andrews | 43 |
Milton, John | 37 |
Monk, General | 67 |
Monmouth Street | 31, 34 |
Moorfields | 28 |
Mopp Gate | 19 |
Mouette, Samuel | 77 |
Mulberry trees | 64 |
Mushrooms | 65 |
Nonesuch House | 25 |
Norden, John | 25 |
Norfolk, Thomas, Duke of | 19 |
Nowell, Dean | 11 |
Office of the Revels | 43 |
Offot | 79 |
Oil paint recipe | 18 |
Old Bethlem | 28, 31, 34, 42 |
Old Vinegar | 61, 62 |
Orford Church | 1 |
Oromedon | 79 |
Osalinskie, Count Palatine of Sindomerske | 46 |
Papier-maché | 77 |
Passover | 21 |
Paternoster Row | 31 |
Pembroke, Earl of | 71 |
Pennant, Pyers, arms of | 55 |
Pindar arms | 51 |
Pindar, Sir Paul, house of | 45, 50, 52-53 |
Plymouth Hoe (Haw) | 81 |
Portugal Street | 74 |
Poultry | 48 |
Poultry Compter | 39, 44-45 |
Pritchard, Sir William | 9 |
Punch, Mr | 21 |
Purim, Feast of | 21 |
Pye Corner, boy at | 76 |
Quarter Jacks | 75 |
Queenhythe | 25 |
Rag Fair | 34 |
Rake's Progress | 33 |
Rayhere | 2 |
Roman burying place | 9 |
Rope dancers | 43 |
Rosemary Lane | 34 |
Russell Street, Covent Garden | 65 |
St Bartholomew the Great, church of | 2, 4-5 |
St Bartholomew the Less, church of | 3 |
St Botolph, church of, Aldgate | 75 |
St Catherine by the Tower, church of | 71, 74 |
St Clare, Convent of | 8, 12-13 |
St Clement Danes, church of | 7 |
St Dunstan in the East, church of | 10, 12-13 |
St Dunstan, church of, Fleet Street | 75, 76 |
St Edmund, church of, Lombard Street | 75 |
St Ethelburga, church of, Bishopsgate Street | 73 |
St Giles in the Fields, church of | 74 |
St Giles, Cripplegate, church of | 36, 44-45, 74 |
St Helen, church of, Bishopsgate Street | 73 |
St James, church of, Piccadilly | 74 |
St Margaret's Westminster, church of | 7 |
St Martin, church of, Coleman Street | 74 |
St Martin, church of, Oxford | 75 |
St Mary at Hill, church of | 7 |
St Mary le Bow, church of, Cheapside | 75 |
St Mary Overy, church of | 70 |
St Mary Woolnoth, church of | 75 |
St Olave, church of, Hart Street | 74 |
St Paul's Cathedral | 7 |
St Swithin, church of, Cannon Street | 75 |
St Thomas, chapel of, London Bridge | 25 |
Sassafras Tea | 21 |
Schmidt, Bernard, organ maker | 7 |
Shakespeare in 15 minutes | 21 |
Shaving brush | 38 |
Ship carving | 76 |
Shutters, sliding | 68 |
Siddons, Mrs | 54 |
Siggs, Ann | 50, 54 |
Sign painters | 31 |
Spanish chestnut | 41 |
Statues of madness | 32 |
Stocks | 74 |
Street ballads | 68 |
Sweedon's Passage, Grub Street | 41, 44-45, 67 |
Sweepwasher | 20 |
Synagogues | 19 |
Tapestries | 47, 68 |
Temple Bar | 50 |
Temple Church | 1, 4 et seq., 4-5 |
Tesselated wooden floors | 47 |
Thornhill, James | 76 |
Tiddy Doll | 24 |
Tower of London | 20-21, 22 |
Traitor's Gate, London Bridge | 25 |
Trumpet Major of England | 43 |
Tyburn gallows | 53 |
Verdion, Count | 69 |
Waldron, Mr, actor | 77 |
Wall paintings | 11, 13 |
Waltham Abbey | 1 |
Wastell bread | 32 |
Watch tower, Ludgate Hill | 26, 29-30 |
Westminster | 1 |
Westminster - Painted Chamber | 12, 47 |
Westminster Abbey | 71 |
Westminster Hall | 71 |
White Hart Tavern, Bishopsgate Street | 42 |
Whitehall | 7 |
Whittington's Bells | 38 |
Whittington's Palace | 67 |
Winchester House | 68, 69 |
Winchester Street | 28, 68, 68-69 |
Windmill, Strand | 25 |
Witchcraft, protection from | 34 |
Wolsey, Cardinal Thomas | 46 |
Wooden sculptures | 70 |
Wooden World | 35 |
Wren, Sir Christopher | 10 |
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