THE HISTORY OF LONDON : ILLUSTRATED BY VIEWS IN LONDON AND WESTMINSTER, ENGRAVED BY JOHN WOODS ...

London : Orr & Co.; Simpkin Marshall & Co. & others, 1838. First edition. A discursive history of London, with some out of the way figures on historic prices, etc., the text acting as a vehicle to accompany the splendid steel-engraved plates, engraved by John Woods (fl.1835-1855) and others from the drawings of Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"), Robert Garland, John Francis Salmon, Francis William Topham, Edward John Roberts, etc. Alongside views of the well-known buildings - Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Mansion House, Somerset House, etc., there are some fine street scenes of Cheapside, Leadenhall Street, King William Street, etc., as well as views of the West India Dock, Billingsgate, etc. Originally published in monthly parts from June 1837, the text was continued after Fearnside's early death by Thomas Harral (1773?-1853). "A most useful visual account of the London scene in the year of Queen Victoria's accession ... the plates ... are of high quality" (Bernard Adams). Medium 8vo (229 x 153mm). iv,(204)pp. Frontispiece, extra engraved vignette title (reading "Woods's Views in London, Westminster, and their Vicinities"), and twenty-eight plates - the plates bound in cavalier disregard of the "Directions to the Binder". Contemporary half roan, banded and gilt; all edges gilt; marbled sides and endpapers; a little rubbed and worn at extremities; plates a little browned and spotted; one text-leaf torn and repaired without loss, but a good copy of a handsome production. Adams 188.