The so-called ‘Agas’ plan of Elizabethan London on eight sheets

A fascinating map of Elizabethan London, derived from one of three known examples of an anonymous woodcut map of London c.1570, all now in institutions. The style is much the same as Braun & Hogenberg, with the buildings shown in profile, and many of the details are shared. It is likely that that both were based on a common source, but the this map extends further north and shows St Paul's Cathedral without the spire, dating to a survey later than Braun & Hogenberg. London Bridge has buildings on it, and the Globe and the Bull-Baiting Ring can be seen on the south bank of the river. The Royal Arms top left are those of James I, 1603-1625, but it is believed that these are a later addition to the woodblock Vertue studied. Vertue, an antiquarian and publisher, saw an example in the possession of Sir Hans Sloane, and produced this engraving in 1737. It was Vertue who first attributed it to Agas, a land surveyor. Agas published a map of Oxford that mentioned a companion map of London: this was enough evidence for Vertue to assign the map to Agas, an attribution that still survives.