A bird's-eye view of London taken from the north

BANKS, John Henry.

A Balloon View of London.
London: Edward Stanford, 1862. Old colour. 635 x 1040mm.

Binding folds flattened with a few repairs, laid on linen.

A very detailed 'balloon-view' of London, taken from a point above King's Cross.
Originally published the day the Great Exhibition opened in Hyde Park in 1851, this example has been updated (with the addition of a ballon in the sky) and shows how much London had changed in a little over a decade.
The Crystal Palace is no longer in Hyde Park, having moved to its new home at Sydenham. Instead, across Kensington Gore, is the 1862 International Exhibiton Building (funded by the proceeds of the Great Exhibition), now the site of the Natural History Museum. Brunel's Hungerford Suspension Bridge has been replaced with a new railway bridge and Hungerford Market cleared, but the actual railway and Charing Cross Station have yet to be built. Victoria Station and Grosvenor Bridge have been built, as has Cremone Bridge (Battersea Railway Bridge). Further north Kings Cross Station has opened. Battersea Park has been laid out.
"Wyld's Great Globe" still fills Leicester Square, the year it was demolished when James Wyld's lease ran out.

HYDE: Victorian Maps of London, 3 (6).
Stock ID : 18605