Ancient Topography of London containing 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 of places and
customs either unknown or overlooked by the London Historians by John
Thomas Smith, 1815.
This book has a title as rambling as the ruined piles
celebrated in Smith's etchings. He shows us decrepitude, crumbling,
tilting, collapsed and pitted brickwork that makes Samuel Prout's buildings
look like Barrett Homes .
The plates of this book, drawn and etched by Smith, are above all a celebration
of planks of wood which lie all over the city in piles or propped up
against walls. I own one original plate, the Bedlam etching ,
that hints at another game Smith is playing, mysterious, even puckish
figures who often peer secretly at us from behind casements, or, in extreme
cases, stand stock still with their backs turned to us.
SCAN
FROM AN ORIGINAL PRINT (CM Coll)
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