Vuë du Canal, du Batiment Chinois, de la Rotonde, et des Jardins de Ranelagh un jour de rejouissance.

Paris chez Mesard rue Greneta, a la renommée de la Cornemuse (Paris c.1790)

Copper engraving with period hand colouring

Laid down on backing card

268 x 414mm

£120

A View of the Canal, Chinese Building, Rotunde in Ranelagh Gardens, with Masquarade &c.

A naively executed view of the floating chinese pavillion, with the Rotunda in the background, in Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens, Chelsea, west London, enlivened with fashionable patrons in exotic fancy dress. Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens were laid out in 1742. The Rotunda, built by William Jones, a surveyor for the East India Company, was 150 feet in diameter and heated by an enormous four sided fireplace in the centre which also formed part of the support for the roof. Around the walls were booths for eating and drinking, and an orchestra in which Mozart once played. The extensive gardens were laid out in a series of walks and groves, dimly lit at night with chinese lanterns, providing ideal trysting places for lovers. By the beginning of the nineteenth century the gardens had become a resort for less fashionable sections of society and the haunt of thieves and pickpockets. In 1803 the Rotunda was demolished and the gardens finally closed two years later. The site is now part of Chelsea Hospital gardens.

La Ville et le Pont de Londres

Paris, Daumont, rue St Martin  c.1780

Copper engraving

Original hand-colouring

Slight surface abrasion and marks in the sky; time staining within the line of old mount

275x420mm

£150

.La Ville et le Pont de Londres

A vue d'optique (numbered 61) depicting  the North shore of the Thames, looking up-stream towards St Paul's and London Bridge beyond.

The Microcosm of London

London, R. Ackermann 1808-10

Aquatints

Original hand-colouring

230x280mm

The Microcosm of London

The publisher and drawing master Rudolf Ackermann (1764-1834), had come to London from Germany in his early twenties. A philanthropist and businessman, the money he raised to help Leipzig after its devastation by Napoleon in 1813 made him a public figure in both England and Germany. The Microcosm of London, which combined the comic genius (although kept on a tight leash by Ackermann) of Thomas Rowlandson who executed the figures and the precise architectural draughtsmanship of Augustus Pugin, was intended to provide an intimate look at the the major buildings and landmarks of Georgian London.

Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin

Kings Bench Prison

£80

A view of Kings Bench Prison in Southwark, south London. It served as a prison from medieval times up until 1880 when it was closed down. It took its name from the Kings Bench court of law, which dealt in cases of defamation and bankruptcy among others. However, its name changed to the Queens Prison in 1842 and later on became the Southwark convict Prison. It also served as a debtors prison in the mid 19th century until the practise was abolished in the 1860s. One of the prison's most famous inmates, was the writer John Wilkes, who was imprisoned for writing the famous article 'The North Briton' that criticized George III. His incarceration prompted a riot - better known as the Massacre of St George's Field.

The Mint

£130

The Mint

A view of the Royal Mint in the Tower of London, with men minting coins on primitive stamping machines. The buildings of the New Mint at Tower Hill were finished by the end of 1809 (this view was published in February 1809), and the state of the art steam driven machinery was given a trial run in April 1810. During 1811 the transfer from the Tower was largely completed though it was August 1812 before the keys of the old Mint were finally delivered to the Constable of the Tower. The main building, designed by James Johnson and completed by Robert Smirke, achieved 'modest grandeur'. It was flanked by two gatehouses while behind it, and separated from it by an open quadrangle, were the buildings housing the machinery. There were dwelling houses for officers and staff and the site was surrounded by a boundary wall, along the inside of which ran a narrow alley. Patrolled by soldiers from the Mint's military guard, this alley became known as the Military Way.

Royal Cock Pit

£85

Royal Cock Pit

The Royal Cockpit was first built by Charles II and located in Birdcage Walk, Whitehall. However, in 1810 Christ’s Hospital refused to renew the lease and a new building was constructed in Tufton Street, Westminster

Surrey Institution

£85

Surrey Institution

An interior view of the Rotunda of the learned scientific institution, established on Blackfriars Road, Lambeth in 1808. The object of the Institution comprised a 'series of lectures, an extensive library, and reading rooms; a chemical laboratory and philosophical apparatus &c..' In spite of its eminent membership and the lecture series (one shown here) the society only survived until 1823. The building then went through various transformations until it was demolished in 1959 to make way for the dreadful United Africa House building.

Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin ***

The Royal Circus

£85

Thought to be an image of the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane,  it depicts a lively audience enjoying an evening’s entertainment at the theatre. Whilst the majority of the crowd are seated, a minority are standing and conversing with each other during the performance.

St. John’s Church, Upper Holloway. Revd. C. W. Edmonstone Incumbent

London, c. 1830

Tinted lithograph

310x410mm

£75

St. John’s Church, Upper Holloway. Revd. C. W. Edmonstone Incumbent

A fine, very rare, privately printed view of St. John the Evangelist Church, Holloway Road, north London, taken from the north. The brick church was designed by the young Charles Barry in 1822-26, and externally is a replica of his St. Paul’s, Ball Pond Road. This view clearly shows the extensive church with its side aisles and roof pinnacles, the newly developed houses and villas along Upper Holloway Road and passerbys, horsemen and carriages in the road. The churchyard, once at the rear of the church, was destroyed by the coming of the Great Northern Railway in the 1840’s, and the church now abuts Holloway Road station.

Vue interieure d'une belle Gallerie conduisant aux Jardins de Vauxhall

Paris, Basset c. 1760

Copper engraving

Original hand-colouring.Neat repair to bottom of engraved surface and title area

290x430mm

£130

Vue interieure d'une belle Gallerie conduisant aux Jardins de Vauxhall

A rare and interesting vue d'optique showing the elaborately decorated interior of the Grand Gallery and colonnade through to the gardens at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, with fashionably dressed patrons strolling in the foreground. The famous pleasure gardens at Vauxhall, south London opened just before the Restoration in 1660. Until the opening of Westminster Bridge in 1750 the gardens could only be reached by crossing the Thames by boat. Under the management of Jonathan Tyers between 1728-67, the gardens became one of London’s most popular resorts. Tyers added supper boxes, ruins, arches, pavilions, intimate wooded walks and a Gothick orchestra which could accomodate fifty musicians. In 1840 the owners went bankrupt and after many revivals the site was finally built over in 1859.

View of Somerset House with St. Mary’s Church, London.

Augsburg, Georg Balthasar Probst c. 1760

Copper engraving

Bright original hand-colouring.Discolouration and marks in the sky.

305x400mm

£150

View of Somerset House with St. Mary’s Church, London.

A very brightly coloured, naively executed, lively reversed optical view of old Somerset House in the Strand with the church of St. Mary le Strand in the middle of the road. The first Renaissance palace in England, Somerset House was begun in 1547 as a splendid London home for Lord Protector Somerset, but Somerset was executed only 5 years after construction began and while still unfinished the building passed to the Crown. It subsequently became a residence for the Stuart royal widows. Inigo Jones died here in 1652 while working on the building and Oliver Cromwell lay in state in 1658. After William and Mary came to the throne in 1688 the palace gradually fell into disrepair until it was demolished in 1775 and the present classical structure by Sir William Chambers built. The twelfth century church of St. Mary le Strand situated in the centre of the road, was destroyed by Protector Somerset in 1549 to make way for Somerset House. He promised to rebuild but never did, and parishioners had to use the nearby Savoy Chapel for nearly two hundred years. In 1714-17 the present small baroque church was designed by James Gibbs, the church, inspired by his studies in Rome, was Gibbs’ first public building and gained him great reputation. Unfortunately, the church is now crumbling due to the combined effects of time, weather, heavy traffic and the blast of a wartime bomb.