A survey of the cities of London and Westminster: containing the original, antiquity, increase, modern estate and government of those cities. Written at first in the year MDXCVIII. By John Stow, citizen and native of London. Since reprinted and augmented by A.M. H.D. and other. Now lastly, corrected, improved, and very much enlarged: and the survey and history brought down from the year 1633, (being near fourscore years since it was last printed) to the present time; by John Strype, M.A. a native also of the said city. Illustrated with exact maps of the city and suburbs, and of all the wards; and likewise of the out-parishes of London and Westminster: together with many other fair draughts of the more eminent and publick edifices and monuments. In six books. To which is prefixed, the life of the author, writ by the editor. At the end is added, an appendiz of certain tracts, discourses and remarks, concerning the state of the city of London. Together with a perambulation, or circuit-walk four or five miles rou Full calf - 1720

London: printed for A. Churchill, J. Knapton, R. Knaplock, J. Walthoe, E. Horne, B. Tooke, D. Midwinter, B. Cowse, R. Robinson, and T. Ward, 1720. First Edition thus. Full Calf. Fine. First Strype Edition, best and most desirable edition of Stow's magisterial study—the "starting point of all inquiry into the subject of Elizabethan London." Complete in two folio volumes; each of the six 'books,' introduced by a drop-head title, with its own pagination: [4], xii, xlii, [2], 308, 208, 285, [1]; [2], 120, 459, [1], 93, [3], 143, [1], 26, [2]pp, with 70 plates, plans and maps (31 double-page or folding), including those of London, Westminster and Southwark. Title pages in red and black. Superbly bound in handsome contemporary paneled calf sewn on six raised bands, very skillfully rebacked with the original lettering pieces laid down. A crisp, clean, fresh copy, with only occasional minor soiling, the copper-engraved plates in deep, rich impressions. Provenance: On the verso of the title pages, the engraved armorial bookplate of Jacob Bouverie, 1st Viscount Folkestone (bapt. 14 October 1694 - 17 February 1761), English Politician and first elected president of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, whose members included Benjamin Franklin, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, William Hogarth and Charles Dickens. Maslen & Lancaster. Bowyer ledgers, 584. Lowndes V, 2526. Gibson's Library, p. 258. ESTC Citation No. T48975. This edition of Stow's Survey was the first to contain a series of ward maps: "Many of these maps are excellent. Their clarity and accuracy fulfill the requirements of the student of London history" (Hyde). Fifth and Best Edition.Titlepage in red and black. Each of the 6 ’books’ has its own pagination, and is introduced by a drop-head title. Adams London Illustrated 25; Lowndes III, 2526; Upcott II, pp, 605-617; Darlington and Howgego 16, 8 (London maps). "Fifth and grandest edition. John Strype was already collecting materials for the text by 1703, and an ambitious reprint 'with very great Additions throughout, and illustrated with about 100 large Copper Cutts .. requiring much Time and Great expence' was advertised as early as 1708. The advertisement was on the title verso of Hatton's New View of London, a smaller and cheaper book whose popularity actually caused the postponement of Strype's more monumental work. His two folio volumes cost six guineas and the print run was probably at least 500 copies. He included what he believed to be Stow's entire original text, which had become conflated with the 1618 and 1633 editions of Anthony Munday, clearly identifying his own additions in the margins. John Kip, who had been responsible for the views of London buildings in volume I of Mortier's Nouveau theatre de la Grande Bertagne (1707), is credited with about half the 28 engraved views of 'eminent places'. In addition there are two folding general maps of London, one showing the city as it was in Queen Elizabeth's time, 17 ward maps (bks. II-III) and 20 parish maps (bks. IV and VI). The only map to be signed is the Parish of St. Mary Rotherhithe revised by John Pullen and engraved by John Harris. (2)" Christies. John Stow's Survey of London, first published in 1598, brims with amusing descriptions and anecdotes as well as highly detailed accounts of the buildings, social conditions and customs of the time, based on a wide range of classical and medieval historical literature, public and civic records, and Stow's own intimate knowledge of the city where he spent his life. "The reader of A Survey travels with Stow through each of the city's wards and the adjoining city of Westminster, learns about the wall, bridges, gates, and parish churches . . . [Stow] also records the negative aspects of urban growth, in the shape of unsightly sprawl, filth, the destruction of ancient monuments, and above all poverty. His book approaches the thoroughness of an encyclopaedia . . . It is noteworthy that while Camden's Britannia was written in Latin for the educated élite, Stow's Survey was composed in the language of his fellow countrymen." This edition, of 1720, greatly expanded with interpolated amendments by John Strype, is considered the best and most desirable. "Throughout his life at Low Leyton, Strype crossed the River Lea into London each week to meet and converse with his antiquarian friends and to call on his contacts in the book trade. . . . The Survey had been repeatedly revised and enlarged in order to keep up with the changing aspect of the post-fire city, now much expanded and altered in its religion and other ways. . . . Although Strype had arranged most of the work by 1707, and the engravings had been prepared, it was set aside after the publication of Edward Hatton's New View of London in 1708, which seemed to cover much the same ground and was considerably smaller and cheaper. . . . Finally, once the defects of Hatton's book were acknowledged another agreement in November 1716 led to the Survey's publication at the end of 1720. . . . The print run was probably more than 500 copies . . . To quote Merritt, ‘By this stage the Survey has a multiple personality, switching with little warning from nostalgic Elizabethan antiquary [Stow] . . . to diligent post-Restoration recorder of events [Strype] and back again’ (Merritt, 87)." (ODNB) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. 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