Thomas Pennant - Some Account of London - 1805

“Some Account of London: / By Thomas Pennant, Esq. / The Fourth Edition, With Considerable Additions. / London: / Printed for Robert Faulder, New Bond-Street, / By R. Taylor and Co. 38, Show-Lane, Fleet-Street. / 1805.”

THE 1805 FIRST POSTHUMOUS EDITION, AND THE DEFINITIVE EDITION, OF THOMAS PENNANT’S ‘SOME ACCOUNT OF LONDON’ – COMPLETE WITH ALL 16 PLATES .

Printed in quarto at London in 1805 for Faulder by Taylor, certainly one of the classic works depicting London life, architecture and history, complete in all respects, adorned with 16 engraved plates, of which 15 are full-page or folding, in very good condition internally, and bound in modern bordeaux half-morocco.

PROVENANCE: 1. M.W. Mayow, the 19th century Anglican clergyman (his signature dated 1821 at the head of the title).

Thomas Pennant (14 June OS 1726 – 16 December 1798) was a Welsh naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire in Wales. As a naturalist he had a great curiosity, observing the geography, geology, plants, animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish around him and recording what he saw and heard about. He wrote acclaimed books including ‘British Zoology,’ the ‘History of Quadrupeds,’ ‘Arctic Zoology’ and ‘Indian Zoology’ although he never travelled further afield than continental Europe. He knew and maintained correspondence with many of the scientific figures of his day. His books influenced the writings of Samuel Johnson, and he was a regular correspondent of Capt. James Cook and Gilbert White. As an antiquarian, he amassed a considerable collection of art and other works, largely selected for their scientific interest. Many of these works are now housed at the National Library of Wales. Fully 22 species of marine life are named after him.

As a traveller he visited Scotland and many other parts of Britain and wrote about them. Many of his travels took him to places that were little known to the British public and the travelogues he produced, accompanied by painted and engraved colour plates, were much appreciated. Each tour started at his home and related in detail the route, the scenery, the habits and activities of the people he met, their customs and superstitions and the wildlife he saw or heard about. He travelled on horseback accompanied by his servant, Moses Griffiths, who sketched the things they encountered, later to work these up into illustrations for the books. He was an amiable man with a large circle of friends and was still busily following his interests into his sixties. In 1790 he published his Account of London, which went through a large number of editions. It was written in the style of his previous works and contained information on things of historical interest in the parts of the capital to which his wanderings led him. He enjoyed good health throughout his life and died at Downing at the age of seventy two.


The volume is complete and in excellent conditions. It is paginated as follows: [ii], 415, [9].
The plates are excellent impressions. The leaves are generally clean and bright, with occasional mild foxing and minor offsetting from the plates. The margins are ample and the print is clear throughout. The folding map of London shows a few vertical creases at the westernmost fold. The binding is a modern italian elegant binding with half bordeaux morocco with blue marbled paper at the plates.