Price: £800.00
Title: 'A View of LONDON as it was in the Year 1647'. 'Vüe de Londres comme il etoit dans l'An 1647'. Sold by J. Boydell engraver at the Unicorn in Cheapside London 1756 / R. Benning del. et sculp. A rare panorama of London with a wealth of detail. In very good condition. The vertical folds have been reinforced on the verso. JOHN BOYDELL (1719-1804) English engraver and print publisher, originator and builder of the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery. He studied engraving in London and early began to amass his fortune with the publication of his engravings of views of England and Wales. It is as the publisher of works by other engravers, however, that he is better known. In 1786 he began the publication, by subscription, of prints illustrating Shakespeare's works. The leading English artists were commissioned and a gallery was built by Boydell to house the works. Because of financial reverses, the collection was sold by lottery in 1804. From The Columbia Encyclopedia. Sixth Edition. Copyright 2006 Columbia University Press.