Grand Panorama of London from the Thames. Extending [from the] New Houses of Parliament to Greenwich Hospital

Charles EVANS (publisher).

Grand Panorama of London from the Thames. Extending [from the] New Houses of Parliament to Greenwich Hospital…  Eighteen-Feet in Length. London: published by C. Evans, 1849. Folding continuous-strip wood-engraved panorama (218 ½ x 6in; 5550 x 152mm.), separate title panel printed in red and green with decorative surround (mounted on upper inner pastedown, as issued).

Condition of panorama: splits at most folds, repairs to some folds using archival pressure-sensitive tape (‘Filmoplast P Paper Transparent Mending Tape’), some old dampstaining [see images].

Original cloth, the upper cover blocked in gilt and blind, the lower cover similarly tooled but in blind only.

Condition of binding: rebacked with cloth [see images].

A remarkable achievement: the second edition, and extended by six feet to 18 foot. The 1844 first edition was ‘only’ 12 feet in length. This copy a bit battered but still attractive.

The panorama begins at the 'New Houses of Parliament' and proceeds downstream, recording the townscape of the river's northern bank. At Greenwich Reach, it crosses the river, depicting Greenwich Hospital and Deptford Dockyard on the southern bank. In addition to being a valuable historical record of the bankside architecture of the time, there is some fascinating incidental detail, with the amount and variety of shipping increases as the panorama progresses downstream, with many types of sailing vessels, paddle-steamers, Thames barges and even a racing skiff. In addition to the extension to the western end, there is a noticeable change to the view of Hungerford suspension bridge which has substantial alterations to the foreground.

To adapt the subtitle of the first edition: “This remarkable engraving… is unequalled in the history of wood engraving, and is alike valuable as a work of art and as an historical record of the appearance of the great metropolis, seen from the Thames”. There do seem to have been a number of issues of this '1849' edition. For example: there is an issue with the title printed in green only and the wording corrected ('from the' is present) - this is probably a later issue?  

See https://archive.org/details/grandpanoramaofl00lond/page/n7/mode/2up [the 1844 first edition]; see Abbey Life 564.