The very rare first state of this magnificent separately published five-sheet panorama of London and Westminster published in 1749 by Samuel (1696-1779) and Nathaniel Buck (fl. 1727-56). It is the finest of the cities since those of William Kip published between 1714 and 1716. The view is the single most important of their oeuvre. A body of work which has never been repeated since.

Its most common appearance is in 1774 when the series of 81 panoramas was published by Robert Sayer. For that issue the plates included a plate number top right. The brothers Samuel and Nathaniel Buck were born in Richmond, North Yorkshire and became interested in sketching town prospects because of Ralph Thoresby, a local antiquary. From 1719 they produced and published a series of views of towns in the north of England. Each was available to subscribers for between 2 and 5 shillings each. They soon outgrew the north and moved south to London. Their tours to sketch were prepared well in advance, potential subscribers being contacted beforehand usually through local press. The following summer season would be when the view was prepared. On occasions other artists were employed to enhance the foreground image and bring it to life. Infrequently two prospects were designed to pair together such as those of Deptford and Greenwich and Chatham and Rochester. This created a longer panorama with greater impact. London being the capital commanded a total of five sheets. At the end of the season they would return to London and began the process of engraving.

They had planned for London to be their grand finale and in 1746 it was announced in the ‘London Evening Post’ for 13-15 February 1746 that it would be in four sheets. The usual set of six prospects published each season was to have been made up of two sheets on Portsmouth. They were warned that preparation would take longer for any others published to date. Despite this the price remained the same at five shillings on subscription and ten shillings on delivery. The same journal on 24-26 November 1747 announced that it would actually be in five sheets with Portsmouth being in just one. It also announced that the drawings were now finished and that they could be viewed at the Middle Temple Chambers of the Bucks where subscriptions may be taken. Nineteen months later an apology was issued for their delay in the ‘London Evening Post’ for 17-20 June 1749. Publication was promised on 1 September that year. On the 2 September it was announced that the plates were finished and delivery would commence on the 11 September.

The original drawings for the two western sheets survive in the Sutherland Collection at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The remainder are mounted in one continuous strip at the British Museum. On the verso is the inscription “Buck’s original drawing of modern London finished in the reign of George II. Buck’s widow had refused £70 for it. I later bought it afterwards at Baker’s in Covent Garden” (Hyde, Gilded Scenes).

The copy of the proposals in the Gough Collection at the Bodleian Library contained the names of 1,345 subscribers which numbered “dukes, viscounts, earls, archbishops, bishops, merchants and bankers. There are at least three fellow print makers: Thomas Bowles, Thomas Bakewell and Robert Sayer. Peter Monamy, the marine artist, also subscribed. Antiquaries include Roger Gale and William Stukeley” (Hyde, Prospect). “The Bucks carefully stated where the drawings were made: from Mr Schevas’ Sugar House, opposite to York House, Mr. Watson’s Summer House opposite to Somerset House, Mr Everard’s Summer House opposite to St. Bride’s Church and from the west part of the leads of St. Mary Overy’s Church in Southwark. As a topographical record of the north bank of the Thames, the plates leave nothing to be desired” (Russell). According to the consecutively enumerated key below the sheets extend as follows: Plate 1. New Bridge at Westminster to the Treasury Building. Plate 2. Treasury Building and Whitehall to Somerset House. Plate 3. Somerset House to Bridewel [sic]. Plate 4. Fleet Ditch to St. Michael’s Church – Basingshaw. Plate 5. Old Street Church to London Bridge and the Tower of London. Each building is illustrated with great skill and attention to detail.

Nathaniel Buck died in 1756 and in 1774 Robert Sayer acquired the copper plates from Samuel and published them as ‘Buck’s Antiquities’, a magnificent three volume work. In 1779 Samuel Buck died. Their perspective panoramic views have never been surpassed and are a very valuable record of a pre-industrial Britain. No other series of views ever published was as extensive or detailed. They provided the model for numerous derivatives including the inset views to Emanuel Bowen and Thomas Kitchin’s ‘Large English Atlas’ c.1755, Robert and James Dodsley’s ‘England Illustrated’ 1764, Nathaniel Spencer’s ‘Complete English Traveller’ 1773, George Walpoole’s ‘New & Complete English Traveller’ 1784 and the European, London and Universal Magazines from the 1750s. A remarkable record and survivor of Georgian London in the middle of the eighteenth century. Provenance: Sigfried Brumme, Germany, 1994; private English Collection. Adams (1983) no. 54 pp. 128-31; Hyde (1985) Gilded Scenes no. 53; Hyde (1994) ‘A Prospect of Britain’ pp. 22-23; Russell (1979) Guide pp. 29-30.