Bibliophile, general antiquarian and biographer, John Strype (1643-1737) was commissioned to edit a revised version of John Stow's already monumental 'Survey of London' (1598), which was published in 1720. It was enormously popular and several revised editions followed. This sixth edition, was issued in parts from February 1754 to July of 1757. As Adams reports "It must have been quite a job for the publishers to keep this stream of illustrative material flowing and, although perhaps a few maps and views were specially commissioned, they largely depended on three tributaries of pre-existing work. A little under half consisted of nearly all the plates made for the fifth edition with minor alterations o the ward and parish maps, the burnishing out of the original references to volume, Book and page numbers and the addition of Part numbers and an appropriate publication-line. The rest was drawn chiefly from two other sources: the current stock-in-trade of the printseller John Bowles and the architectural plates engraved by Benjamin Cole for the second edition of Maitland's 'History of London', which was coming out also in Parts, between 1754 and 1756".