Two plates, as made
London
Elevated photograph beside bird's-eye illustration / lithograph. Do not treat them as the same kind of evidence.
c. 1865·London
On the rooftops of London
Unknown photographer. National Library of Ireland, STP_0424.
Elevated photograph
What this plate shows
A camera on London roofs. Chimney pots in the near field. St Paul’s dome in the distance. Smoke, brick, and a real horizon. This is an elevated photograph, not a bird’s-eye lithograph. The city is whatever the lens could hold from that roof, that day.
- Image type
- Elevated photograph
- Source
- National Library of Ireland on The Commons; Wikimedia scan. Pre-1869 rooftop view, likely c. 1865.
- License
- No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons / NLI).
c. 1865·London
London from the south side of the Thames
Printed panorama (Leventhal Map Center / Wikimedia scan).
Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph
What this plate shows
A drawn strip of London seen from the south bank: river, bridges, dome, a continuous skyline. An illustration of the whole, not a single exposure. Set it beside the rooftop photograph before deciding they show the same city the same way.
- Image type
- Bird's-eye illustration / lithograph
- Source
- Norman B. Leventhal Map Center collection, circulated via Wikimedia Commons.
- License
- Public domain.