Beautiful separately issued engraved plan of Kensington Palace and Gardens by John Rocque.

Originally known as Nottingham House, the suburban residence of Heneage Finch, Earl of Nottingham, the property was bought by William III and Mary II in 1689 and, with the house renovated by Christopher Wren and the gardens designed in formal Dutch style, became Kensington Palace. The present plan, however, reflects the remodelling of the grounds undertaken by Queen Caroline, wife of George II, and the garden-designer Charles Bridgeman. Together they created the Round Pond, which sits at the centre of the plan, and the Serpentine River, visible on the right-hand side of the plan, both still features of Kensington Gardens today.

John Rocque (c1704-1762) was a French Huguenot, whose family emigrated from France, first to Switzerland, then to England, following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. While his most famous work is his monumental 1746 map of the city of London, which took nine years to produce, he started his career as a "dessinateur de jardins", producing plans of royal and aristocratic gardens, as the present example reflects.