THE A TO Z OF VICTORIAN LONDON Introductory notes by Ralph Hyde, Harry Margary Publishers, Lympne Castle, 1987. Hardback, 140 pages, £23.00. ISBN 0-903541-39-4

Harry Margary are specialist publishers who have produced a remarkable set of maps: volumes for Elizabethan, Restoration, Georgian, Regency and Victorian London and one for Georgian Dublin. These are all reproduced from contemporary maps. For example, in 1739 John Rocque began his survey of the capital. Freemason and Royal engraver of seals, John Pine, was given the task of engraving the map which would result. The maps were published in 1747. These have been adapted for the volume The A to Z of Georgian London.
    What is of significance is to be able to see, easily and quickly, the development of London from Elizabethan to Georgian times. The Grand Lodge of England was formed on 24 June 1717 at the Apple Tree Tavern, Charles Street, Covent Garden. It is interesting to see how this part of London developed: Elizabethan maps show ‘Convent Garden’ as a broad field with trees; above is a field with animals, ‘Long Acre’: rural Drury Lane wends its way past. It was on the very edge of London, beyond was countryside with churches and villages amongst fields and foliage.
    The Restoration volume (1676) covers only the edge of Covent Garden but it is clear that by now the pastoral setting has vanished, Covent Garden is now a built-up part of London, close-packed houses line the surrounding streets. The Georgian volume gives us more information. In 1747 Covent Garden market was well established, the centre of a large residential and commercial area. Interestingly, Great Queen Street is also in existence by this time. The Regency volume (1813) is rather more detailed showing every individual house together with its street number. Charles Street is but a few minutes walk to the east of the market.
    Finally, the Victorian volume reveals Covent Garden in the midst of a vast metropolis: Charles Street - where Grand Lodge was founded - has been renamed Wellington Street, the name it bears today.
    These books of maps form a truly fascinating and essential series for those interested in the development of a great city and of Freemasonry within it.
    Michael Baigent