The Bank, Bank Buildings, Royal Exchange and Cornhill, 1804

About this sheet

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, lettered "The Bank, Bank Buildings, Royal Exchange & Cornhill." The view shows the busy junction in the heart of the City. At the left the columned front of the Bank runs back toward a church tower, in the center the tall wedge of Bank Buildings divides the streets, and at the right a tower with a lantern rises over the Royal Exchange, with Cornhill running off beyond and a shop sign lettered "S. GREGORY" at the edge. Carriages, riders, a dray loaded with barrels and a crowd of pedestrians fill the street.

The title is engraved in script below the image. The artist's credit "Pugh delt" is at lower left and the engraver's credit "Reeve sculp" at lower right. The imprint above the image reads "Published Augt 11-1804. by Richard Phillips, No 71 St Paul's Church Yard."

The plate comes from Modern London; Being the History and Present State of the British Metropolis, printed for Richard Phillips, No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by C. Mercier and Co., Northumberland-court, Strand, in 1804, and "illustrated with numerous copper plates." Many of its topographical views were drawn by Edward Pugh, a Welsh painter working in London, and engraved on copper by several London engravers, each of whom signed his own plate. Bank Buildings, the block that stood in front of the Royal Exchange, was cleared in the 1840s, so the plate records a view of the City that no longer exists.

A good companion to the interior of the Bank Rotunda from the same book.

Condition: Age toning; handling soiling along the edges and foxing with some brown staining in the margins. Printed image clean.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.