The History of St. Pauls Cathedral in London, from its Foundation untill these times

1658

de Beer Ec 1658 D

London: Printed by Thomas Warren

William Dugdale’s History of St Paul’s Cathedral in London was one of my personal discoveries when I began investigating Otago’s Special Collections. Although the work was catalogued, reference to the significant topographical artist, Wenceslaus Hollar, one of my favourite printmakers, was missing. The site where St. Paul’s now stands has a long history; a church has supposedly been on site since 604. Dugdale’s work is an important book on many levels. It was part of a growing antiquarian movement that recorded and preserved information on the medieval past. Produced during Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate, when so many churches were threatened by puritan zealotry, it marked a nostalgia for a royalist past. The book includes details of the cathedral in 1658, before its destruction in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is also important because it is the first book on a particular building to contain so many illustrations of architectural views and monuments. It was ‘crowdfunded’ with subscribers paying for individual prints.
(Chosen by Dr Judith Collard, Department of History and Art History, Otago)