A plan of Covent Garden at the end of the 17th century

A fine example of the first printed map to focus on Soho, engraved by Richard Blome c.1695 but not published until 1720, with his name removed from the title, leaving traces of engraving. The map depicts the Parish of 'St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminster', which was created in 1687 and named for Princess (later queen) Anne. The parish extends to 'Tiborn Road' (Oxford Street) at the top, to Wardour Street and Whitcomb Street in the west, Leicester Fields in the south and 'Hog Lane' (Charing Cross Road) and St Martin's Lane in the east. Soho Square appears as 'Kings Square' and Leicester House is shown as an elevation. In 1695 William III granted Blome a privilege to publish 'A Survey or description of the citties of London and Westminstr'. Although a few of the parish maps with Blome's name exist in the British Library, the series was not published until John's Strype's 'A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster', a continuation of 'Stow's Survey'. This example comes from the first edition, with no apparent attempt to update Blome's mapping.