'Merian's London' 1638 print reproduction laid on cloth

This view of London by Merian, a Swiss engraver, was published in 1638. It is a very rare engraving and shows London with it's old bridge and St Pauls without its steeple. Lightening struck St Paul's in 1561 and destroyed the steeple which had been rebuilt after a similar strike in 1444. It seems disaster struck St Paul's every 100 years or so as the cathedral was completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.

From it you get the sense of the London that Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare knew. At the southern end of Old London Bridge with it's display of traitors heads over the gate is Southwark. Merian has illustrated the Globe, the Swan and the Bear Pit theatres but has added a mysterious fourth which may be a mistake or simply an unrecorded theatre. Central to the image is the remarkable Old London Bridge. The river to the left of the bridge is the stretch where the frost fairs took place during the severe winters London suffered in what has become known as the Little Ice Age.

The Folding Map Company produce reproductions of the rarer maps and antique illustrations, all dissected and hand laid onto 100% natural cotton cloth. Merian's London is supplied rolled and in a tube. 

Please note the framed illustration is an example and you are buying the print only.