Laurie (Robert) and James Whittle, publishers.

a perspective view of the final, and the grandest, incarnation of East India House. The East India Company had been founded in 1600, first occupying rooms in the house of its Governor, Sir Thomas Smythe. In 1621 it moved to Crosby House in Bishopsgate, then in 1638 to rooms in the house of the next Governor, Sir Christopher Clitherow, in Leadenhall Street. By 1648, the business had outgrown the space available, so the company moved next door to the Elizabethan half-timbered Craven House. That building was demolished in 1726, but by 1729 had been rebuilt on the same site, much extended to the rear, by Theodore Jacobsen. However, the continuing growth of the company throughout the 18th century required the commensurate expansion of head office, so in the 1790s the buildings to either side were acquired and demolished to allow for the complete remodelling with the addition of two wings seen here. This was the work of Henry Holland, though overseen by the Company Surveyor, Richard Jupp, credited here, who died in 1799, before its completion. East India house was demolished for good in 1861, a few years after the company’s possessions and interestes were all taken under the control of the government, and replaced by the original Lloyd’s Building of Lloyd’s of London,

engraving on wove paper, 265 x 395 mm. (10 1/2 x 15 1/2 in), a faint soft crease across the upper left corner, a few short splits at sheet edges, but all well outside the plate,