A Picturesque Tour Through the Cities of London and Westminster, Illustrated With the most interesting Views, accurately delineated And executed in Aquatinta By Thomas Malton

Thomas Malton the younger

RA Collection: Book

Record number

03/2656

Author

Thomas Malton the younger

Imprint

London: Published Augt. 21st. 1792 (-1801), By Thos Malton No. 81 Titchfield Street, Portland Place. Vol. I. (II.)

Physical Description

2 vols.in one; 418 mm. (Folio).

General Note

Vol. I: iv, 60 p., engr. t.-pl. engr. dedic., 48 pl. (Pl. are numbered in top right-hand corner. In many copies some numbers are invisible - some perhaps lost in the sewing (in the Academy's copy these are pl. 4, 21, 22, 24, 26, 30, 31, 34, 37, 40, 45, 46).) - Vol. II: [61]-112 p., engr. t.-pl., pl. 49-100. (Plate 93 is misnumbered as 92.)

[T.-pl., dedic.] - List Of Subscribers - Introduction - [Text and pl.]; [ colophon].

Responsibility Note

No plate is signed by Malton as draughtsman or engraver.

But each (except pl. 53, 55) bears his publisher's imprint, and the publication-date.

The two title-plates are signed as written by Tomkins and engraved by Ashby.

The printer is named in the colophon on p. 112: 'T. Bensley, Printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London'.

The work is dedicated by T. Malton to the Prince of Wales (afterwards King George IV).

References

RIBA, Early printed books, 3 (1999), no. 2022, p.1068-70; B. Adams, London illustrated 1604-1851 (1983), no. 72, p.170-5; Scenery of Great Britain and Ireland in aquatint and lithography 1770-1860 from the library of J.R. Abbey (1952/R1991), 204.
ESTC, T100665

Summary Note

The work was published serially, in twenty-five numbers. The plates in Volume I carry the dates 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796 or 1797; those in Volume II, the dates 1797, 1798, 1799, 1800 or 1801. In most copies the title page of Volume I carries the publisher's later address, of 103 Long Acre, to which he moved in 1792.

The buildings which most interested Malton are given a greater number of plates - nine to St Paul's cathedral, seven each to Somerset House and Westminster Abbey, four each to the Adelphi and the Royal Exchange, and three to the Bank of England. Many are shown in a steep perspective (which set an example to Turner and Girtin); and his concern to combine topographic accuracy with atmosphere is evident in, for example, his engraving, 'View from Scotland Yard' (pl. 27). A few copies of the work were issued with coloured plates.

In his Royal Academy lectures of 1811 J.M.W. Turner takes the opportunity of praising the skills of his former drawing-master, Thomas Malton. Malton had himself been a student at the Academy, and from 1773 to 1803 he exhibited architectural drawings at its shows.

Original drawings for plates 42 and 52 may be seen in the British Museum; for plate 36, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In 1802 Malton followed his London book with Picturesque Views of the City of Oxford.

Reproductions

An electronic reproduction was published in 2003 (Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale). A microfilm version was published in 1985 (Woodbridge CT: Research Publications).

Provenance

Since the Royal Academy subscribed to this work from the outset, it is possible to trace its progress by means of the record of payments entered in the 'RA Treasurer's Account Book, 1768-1795' for [August?] 1792: 'Malton sub: £1 1s.'; 21 March 1793: 'Malton 12s.'; 1 August 1794: 'Malton two subscript.ⁿ £3: 3s.'; 1 January 1795: 'Maltons 3:^rd N:^o 12s.'; 4 July 1795: 'Malton £1: 16s' [for Nos. 4-6]; and thereafter in entries in the Academy's quarterly 'Abstracts of Bills': 16 February 1796: Malton's 'Tour', 7th, 8th, 9th Nos. £1 16s.; Lady Day Quarter 1797: Malton's 'Tour', 10th, 11th, 12th Nos. '£1: 16. 0'; Lady Day Quarter 1798: Malton's 'Tour', 13th, 14th, 15th Nos. '£1 16.0'; Midsummer Quarter 1798: Malton's 'Tour', 16th No. '£0. 12.0'; 11 March 1799: 'The Treasurer produced ... the 16th, 17th & 18th No. of Malton's Tour' (RA Council Minutes III, 27); [CHECK further Abstracts of Bills for 1799-1801]; the final (i.e. 25th) number was paid for in the Lady Day Quarter of 1801.

Copy Note

On page 57 of Volume I alongside the printed text, 'to shew the veneration they had for the cross', there is inscribed in pencil in the margin, 'To shew that they had been to the Holy Land'.

Binding Note

19th-century diced calf; rebacked in 20th century, green morocco spine-label lettered 'T. Malton Tour Of London & Westminster'.

Subject

Architecture - Cities - Public buildings - Churches - Houses - Palaces - Great Britain - London - St. Paul's Cathedral (London) - Westminster - Westminster Abbey (London) - Somerset House (London) - History - Description and travel
Drawings - Great Britain - 18th century - Picturesque, the
Views - Maps - Travel guidebooks - Great Britain - 18th century
Pictorial works - Aquatints - Great Britain - 18th century

Contributors

Thomas Tomkins, draughtsman
Thomas Bensley, printer
Harry Ashby, engraver
George IV King of Great Britain, dedicatee
Thomas Malton the younger, publisher, draughtsman