Britannia Illustrata

Britannia Illustrata, or Views of Several of the Queen’s Palaces as also of the Principal Seats of the Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain Curiously Engraven on 80 Copper Plates, was published in London in 1709. This grand architectural and topographical work was printed for David Mortier, Daniel Midwinter, Henry Overton, and Joseph Smith, and is renowned for its large, intricately engraved bird’s-eye views of country estates, royal residences, and formal gardens. The plates—many by the Dutch draughtsman Jan Kip, after drawings by Leonard Knyff—offer a richly detailed record of Baroque Britain, capturing the grandeur and order of aristocratic life under Queen Anne. Today, Britannia Illustrata is celebrated as one of the finest and most ambitious engraved works of its kind.