from Ackermann’s ‘Microcosm of London, the interior of the treasury department, the Stamp Office, responsible for administering stamp duty on a range of legal and commercial documents, newspapers and pamphlets, playing cards and lottery tickets, which in 1808 had switched from being a blanket charge to one related to the item or the transaction’s value, since 1776, with the opening of Sir William Chambers’ Somerset House as the first purpose-built ‘national building’ to house various public offices,
original hand-coloured engraving, with aquatint by Joseph Stadler, 235 x 280 mm. (9 1/4 x 11 in),