The Picture of London, for 1819: being a correct guide to all the curiosities, amusements, exhibitions, public establishments, and remarkable objects in and near London

London: Longmans, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1819.

Twentieth edition (though no earlier editions listed on line or in the BL); 12mo. pp x, 447, [1]; folding frontispiece "The Strand Bridge, finished in 1816"; extra illustrated titlepage; folding map "A panorama of the curiosities of London 1819"; 29 engraved, multi-view plates each with at least four views on a particular theme, eg. bridges, churches, hospitals, prisons. Slightly later leather binding in dark green, black backstrip, with gilt lettering and further, more ornate, lettering to upper board. Joints of boards cracked but holding well with signs of strengthening repair to upper board together with addition of later endpaper in pale blue. Map annotated in pencil, naming the various places of interest marked. Plates and map in excellent condition, almost no foxing bar the odd spot. Paper repair to the top margin of illust. t-p. Overall, a solid and seemingly complete copy, although the publisher calls for two maps, it is not clear there ever was a second, although the the copy at Bishopsgate refers to "maps" which suggests there may have been another. Undoubtedly scarce (in any state) with just two copies listed in institutional libraries (one in the aforementioned Bishopsgate Institute copy); the other in the library of the British Museum. Both these copies purport to be copies of the "twentieth edition". It is curious that no earlier editions have been collected. This is an extraordinary detailed guide to Georgian London, with accounts of historical events(South Sea Bubble, Accident at the Hay-market Theatre, Great Plague of 1665, the Dreadful Hurricane of 1740, The Rioters of 1760, etc. More details take in theatres, tea gardens, London docks, canals, collections of pictures, opera, courts of judicure, London bankers, penitentiary houses, "an alphabetical enumeration of towns, villages, and remarkable seats near London" (Acton, Barnet, Chelsea, Fulham, Putney, Wanstead, etc); an appendix at the back lists taxi fares, names of principal inns at which Mail and Stage coaches put up; Hackney coach fares, principle streets, churches and chapels, public baths. Together you have a fascinating insight into the pastimes and daily workings of a city on the bring of massive expansion in all directions.