DESCRIPTION.--This is the earliest representation of London that has come
down to our time. Accurately speaking, it is not a map, but a picture; but
as many of the old maps are more or less in the same category, we need not
exclude it on that account. Such topographical drawings are apt to be
misleading, owing to the immense difficulties of perspective--witness the
wretched samples hawked about the pavements at the present time. But,
considering the difficulties, this map of Wyngaerde's is wonderfully
accurate, and it has the advantage of being full of architectural details
which no true map could give.
DESIGNER.--Of Wyngaerde himself little is known. He is supposed to have
been a Fleming, and may have come to England in the train of Philip II. of
Spain. He is known to have made other topographical drawings. The date of
the one here reproduced cannot be fixed with perfect certainty, but must
have been between 1543 and 1550.
ORIGINAL.--The original is in the Sutherland Collection at the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, and it measures 10 feet by 17 inches, and is in seven
sheets. A tracing of it, made by N. Whittock, can be seen in the Crace
Collection, Prints Department, British Museum, or in the Guildhall Library.
The present reproduction is from that made by the London Topographical
Society, which photographed the original.
It is reduced, and is here placed in three sections, which overlap for
convenience in handling.