London. From: Orbis habitabilis oppida et vestitus.

[Amsterdam: C. Allard, c.1695].. Original double-page copperplate engraved view of London from the south showing London Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral, with two Londoners in the foreground dressed in traditional costume, printed on laid paper. Overall dimensions 36.5 x 39.5, plate mark 22 x 27.5 cm. Excellent condition. Carel Allard's "Orbis habitabilis Oppida et Vestitutus" ["Towns and Costumes of the Inhabited World"], the rarest of all town books, is the first town book to include both maps and costume plates of cities form all over the world, containing a series of 100 engravings of topographical and corresponding costume plates. The images are excellent in design and execution, and wide-ranging and comprehensive in subject matter. The plates were engraved by Aldert Meyer (costumes) and Thomas Doesbergh (views). Allard himself was one of the most prominent 17th-century Dutch engravers and publishers of geographical material, including maps and city views. He was based in Amsterdam during a period when the Dutch reigned supreme in the production of such works. His work was of the highest quality of engraving, geographical information and decoration, combining beautiful Baroque ornamental motifs and accurate information. An extremely scarce book, we can trace only two institutional copies. Not in Lipperheide, Colas, or Adams.