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Distributed for Bodleian Library Publishing

Town

Prints & Drawings of Britain before 1800

Many provincial towns in Britain grew dramatically in size and importance in the eighteenth century. Ports such as Glasgow and Liverpool greatly expanded, while industrial centers such as Birmingham and Manchester flourished. Market towns outside London developed as commercial centers or as specialty destinations: visitors could find spa treatments in Bath, horse racing in Newmarket, and naval services in Portsmouth. Containing more than one hundred images of country towns in England, Wales, and Scotland, this book draws on the extensive Gough collection in the Bodleian Library. Contemporary prints and drawings provide a powerful visual record of the development of the town in this period, and finely drawn prospects and maps—made with greater accuracy than ever before—reveal their early development. This book also includes perceptive observations from the journals and letters of collector Richard Gough (1735–1809), who traveled throughout the country on the cusp of the industrial age.

224 pages | 116 color plates | 11 x 9 1/4


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Reviews

“A treasure trove of a book and an excellent starting point for anyone seeking to understand what British towns in the eighteenth century looked like.”

Peter Borsay, Aberystwyth University

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