A city of meat eaters

A city of meat eaters.

Title A New & Exact Plan of ye City of London and Suburbs thereof, With the addition of the New Buildings, Churches &c. to this present Year 1734. (Not extant in any other,) Laid down in such a method that in an Instant, may easily be found any Place contain'd therein.

Author BOWLES, Thomas.

Publisher Printed & Sold by Tho: Bowles next to the Chapter-house, St. Paul's Church Yard.

Publication place London.

Publication date 1734.

Engraved map, printed on four sheets, joined, original hand-colour in outline, tear to join at foot not affecting image, extending north to south from Clerkenwell to Lambeth and west to east from Buckingham House to Stepney, list of places contained on the map to left and right margin, list of rates of Waterman and Hackney Coaches, and text upon 'The Situation of London'.

Notes

Large and detailed plan of London.

The map bears grid lines for ease of reference, with the major public buildings such as Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham House, and the Tower of London are represented as birds-eye views.

The text upon the map gives the extent of London as "7500 Geometric paces, that is above 7 English Miles and a half" from west to east and "2500 paces, or 2 miles and a half" from north to south. There are about 5000 streets. The number of houses is calculated to be 110,000.

The population is guessed at "by what is eaten": "There were in one Year, when it was less by two thirds [ie. in the mid seventeenth century], 67500 Beefs, 10 times as many Sheep, Besides Poultry &c. also every Year is brought into the River 400,000 at least Charldon of Coales".

Also the number of "Buryings" was said to number 26,000 per year. The amount of ale and beer produced is said to be 20,000 barrels. Bowles acknowledges the source of these numbers as Sir William Petty (1623-1687), who through some crude statistical analysis calculated the population in the mid-seventeenth century.

He estimated that there were 115,846 families and 695,076 souls; more than Paris, Rome, Rouen or Amsterdam, which were said to have some 500,000 souls. To the left of the text is a list of watermen and hackney carriage rates.

Scale: 7 1/2 inches to 1 statute mile.

Bibliography

Howgego 63 intermediate between states 4 and 5.

Dimensions

Price

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Stock number