The Man Who Drew London

by Gillian Tindall

Book by Tindall, Gillian

Genres: History, London

242 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2002

About the author

Gillian Tindall began her career as a prize-winning novelist. She has continued to publish fiction but has also staked out an impressive territory in idiosyncratic non-fiction that is brilliantly evocative of place.

Her The Fields Beneath: The History of One London Village which first appeared thirty years ago, has rarely been out of print; nor has Celestine: Voices from a French Village, published in the mid 1990s and translated into several languages, for which she was decorated by the French government.

Well known for the quality of her writing and the meticulous nature of her research, Gillian is a master of miniaturist history. She lives with her husband in London.

Reviews

[Eliel Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but a bit of a laborious read.

[Florence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have maybe a quarter of this intriguing book remaining and have really enjoyed its immersive conjecturing about Wenceslaus Hollar's life. I am impressed by the research and tracking down scant evidence and the deep thought that went into etching out an impressionist portrait of a man's life, but it disguises some problems relating to properly framing his artistic and mapmaking output and significant contribution amongst other notable engravers before and after him besides it's place within the history of the print industry. At a deeper level it fails to explore how and where and to whom his prints were sold and in what volumes. It ignores many aspects of both mapmaking and the media of print. Presumably other than the handful of contemporaries she keeps mentioning (Pepys, Evelyn, etc) many others bought them but by what type of person? Also weren't these maps very useful for the London parish officials and government in a practical sens?. The context and background of his art industry could have been developed more.

Lastly, I don't think she completely portrayed Weszel correctly. Although she acknowledged his work ethic and skill she did not research or conclude the level of quality he was producing in a professional context both in England and Europe. Personally as well she paints him as simple and genuine with fairly high principles and morals though somewhat damaged or unworldly. She seems to use the top layer of aristocracy as a benchmark and buys into diminishing him as a foreigner not entirely accepted or acceptable and I think that doesn't do him justice. Tindall ranks Hollar based on English prejudices rather than seeing he is not a small statured man but indeed an entrepreneur and both socially and politically astute without the atrocious snobbery and disingenuous marriage making stereotyping notably English. He is not simple but in fact a far superior European that manages very well professionally top of his trade amongst other indiginous engravers. So...it is brilliant in what she does with good research and deep thinking but needs to be framed within a historical mapmaking and printing context and revised as a personal biography of a brave, successful, and talented man.

[Edmund Chattoe-Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is well written book which, through Hollar's life and work, has a broad scope in contemporary history: The Plague, The Great Fire of London, travel in war torn Europe, politics at court and, of course, the relatively early days of science, antiquarianism and book/print publishing. There is perhaps a bit less on Hollar's "output" than I would have expected but maybe that is already covered elsewhere. Lots of atmosphere is created by apposite quotations from such delightful gossips as John Aubrey. The one thing that doesn't work for me (and I know information about Hollar's life is very limited) are the fictional narratives from various people like his wife. I'm not sure but I think at least some of these express anachronistic views (for example about infection control.) I'm happy to believe that Tindall knows a lot more history than I do (so I could be completely wrong about this) but my point isn't really about who is right but rather that this kind of "faction" has the potential to muddy the waters evidentially and IMO doesn't add much to the book in compensation. Still if one watches out for different bits of the book being fact and fiction, this is well worth your time.

[Alison Pilkington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this a fascinating read especially as know a lot of the London areas quite well. Look forward to checking out post lockdown. The mixture of fact and ‘fiction’ works well and sounds very reasonable. Just wish the illustrations could be clearer but scale of many of them and the format of book make it not possible. Will have to try and see them elsewhere.

[Benedict Reid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very much a printed thesis.