All together, a compendium of nine volumes of fascinating material related to all aspects of life in Islington from the middle of the seventeenth to the middle of the nineteenth century. Most of the watercolour drawings were clearly commissioned for the project, probably by Upcott, and are after other well-known drawings and engravings. They include, not only local views and landmarks, but also record inscriptions in churches and graveyard, as well as the coats-of-arms of local families. These seem likely to have been done by Henry Gough, whose trade card appears at the beginning of eighth volume.

The folding maps are mostly nineteenth century, but include Ogilby's road map, and his map of 'Middlesex'.

By far and away the most interesting material is the wealth of ephemera: printed broadsides, trade cards, bills of sale etc., most of which is found in the seventh volume.

Most of the engraved views are also from the nineteenth century, but include Thomas Bakewell's large folding 'A new and Exact Prospect of the North Side of the City of London taken from the upper Pond near Islington' (1730), laid down on linen, Robert Pollard's complementary views, 'A West view of Highbury Place', and 'This North View of Highbury & Cannonbury Places' (1787). The engraved portraits include all of Islington's most famous residents, such as Dick Whittington, who needs no introduction, but also Richard Brothers (1757-1824), a religious fanatic who was confined in Fisher House. The collection includes a long ASL from him.

William Upcott (1779–1845), was an obsessive collector of autographs, coins, trade tokens, and engravings, many of which found their way into this compendium, which he created for Richard Percival.

Upcott arrived in London in 1797 and worked as an apprentice for bookseller John Wright in Piccadilly. By 1813, Upcott was cataloguing the library at Wotton, the family home of John Evelyn in Surrey, where he and William Bray discovered Evelyn's 'Kalendarium', or diary. Luckily, that was not one of the many items that Upcott liberated and which the family were only able to repatriate at the sale of Upcott's estate in 1845.

Eventually established at "Autograph Cottage", his home at 102 Upper Street, Islington, Upcott tried in vain to sell his vast collections to the Guildhall Library, which he had helped to found, the state paper office, the British Museum, the Duke of Sussex, Sir Thomas Phillipps, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Although he experienced some success, the bulk of his autographs, prints, and books were sold after his death in "three London sales of June 1846, making just under £4100 in all... Upcott's extensive collections relating to the topography of Great Britain were purchased for the British Museum" (Freeman)