The Layton Collection

THE THOMAS LAYTON TRUST & LAYTON'S COLLECTION

Atlas Chinensis

Atlas Chinensis: An Embassy from the East India Company of the United Provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China, being a second part of a relation of remarkable passages in two embassies from the East-India Company

Ogilby collaborated with Dutch publisher Jacob van Meurs on descriptions of foreign lands; Africa and the Atlas Japannensis appeared in 1670, this Atlas Chinensis in 1671 and Asia in 1673. Ogilby translated the Dutch text written by Arnoldus Montanus and used the original Dutch engravings. Dedicated to Charles II, Atlas Chinensis describes the Chinese Empire visited by trading missions from the Dutch East-India Company in the 1660s when the Amsterdam and Rotterdam were at the height of their maritime power. A few of the plates are missing from Layton’s copy; it is signed “Edward Filmer, his Book”.

John Ogilby, 1671. Layton Collection 5445

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The Collection

Thomas Layton collected books, coins, and archaeological items (usually described as ‘antiquities’) for 70 years. In that time he had accumulated what has been described as “probably the largest collection of London antiquities ever amassed by a single individual”.

The vast majority of items are believed to have been bought at auctions. Some came to him from his men working on the river. His businesses provided opportunities for finds from dredging, building of bridges and embankments along the banks of the Thames, for which Layton paid good money. Even by the standards of the day Layton kept poor records of where items were found. Despite this, the collection is considered highly important particularly to archaeologists and pre-historians.