Antique maps chart London’s journey through history

According to Jonathan Potter, doyen of British antique map dealers, “a collection of London maps alone would involve hundreds of different publications regardless of variant editions of one map”. There are small-scale maps, showing the Cities of London and Westminster in the context of the surrounding counties; there are sectional maps and ward plans; there are bird’s eye panoramas; there are large-scale surveys, giving streets and houses; and there are descriptive maps and diagrammatic plans, such as Booth’s 1889 Map of London Poverty or Harry Beck’s classic 1932-33 Underground Railways of London.