Rocque’s majestic 16-sheet map of London

Rocque's first plan of London, covering from Canonbury to Mile End, St. George's Fields and Osterley, on a scale of 5½' to a statute mile (1:11,500). Joined together the map would measure c.1.9 x 2.7 metres. Although the title page of this example matches Howgego 94 (2), the map is their first state: on the central London sheet 'Mile End Old Town' & 'Mile End New Town' on the road and 'White Chappel Mount' are not named. Superbly decorated, the map has an ornate frame-line border with a large allegorical vignette including a prospect of London and a large dedication cartouche (to Lord Burlington). The quality of the engraving is also high, and the map has hachuring to differentiate between types of agriculture, with a key on the bottom right plate. John Rocque, a French Huguenot émigré, arrived in London in the 1730s and produced an important series of large scale plans of estates and towns before starting his ambitious project to survey the whole of London.