A Survey of London: Reprinted from the Text of 1603, with Introduction and Notes

‘Stow’s Survey’ is a historical work readily identified by this familiar name alone. John Stow (c.1524-1605) was a Londoner, a member of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, but spent most of his life accumulating manuscripts and other historical records. His great work, A Survey of London, was published in 1603, and is reissued here in the two-volume version edited by C. L. Kingsford (1862-1926) and published in 1908. Kingsford, a government education official, was also a writer for the Dictionary of National Biography, to which he contributed over 300 entries. His Chronicles of London (also reissued in this series) was published in 1905. Volume 2 continues the ward-by-ward account, and goes on to describe Westminster, the city’s churches and hospitals, its government, mayor and sheriffs, and the guilds. Kingsford provides notes, a glossary and comprehensive indexes, offering an accessible and accurate version of this vital source for the city’s history.