John Speed (1552-1629) was an English cartographer and historian, one of the most famous English mapmakers of the early modern period. Speed is best known for two atlases, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, first published in 1611/1612, and A Prospect of the
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Sarah Trimmer (1741-1810) was a children’s writer, critic and educational reformer. She was the daughter of artist and architect Joshua Kirby, who in 1759 was appointed Clerk of Works to the Royal Household at Kew Palace. In 1762, Sarah married James Trimmer, a wealthy brick
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Explore some of Layton’s objects cared for at the Museum of London. Jon Cotton, Natasha Fenner, Jackie Keily and Roy Stephenson, specialist curators who have worked closely with the collection, share their delight in the astonishing range of material of every kind from across the
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Thomas Percy (1729-1811) Bishop of Dromore, County Down was famous in his own time and best known today for his popular three-volume work Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), a collection of ballads and romances dating from the late medieval period to the seventeenth century.
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Edward Daniel Clarke (1769-1822) was an antiquarian, traveller and mineralogist, who later became the first Professor of Mineralogy at the University of Cambridge. In 1810, Clarke published the first part of his six-volume work Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa (1810–23), chronicling
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Translated from the French by John Coakley Lettsom (1787) John Coakley Lettsom (1744 – 1815) was a prominent eighteenth century Quaker, physician and philanthropist. He founded the Medical Society of London in 1773, the oldest medical society in England, and was one of the founder
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Edward Jacob (1710–1788) was an antiquarian and naturalist. In 1735 he moved to Faversham, Kent where he practised as a surgeon, also becoming mayor of the town on four occasions. Soon after his arrival Jacob took a keen interest in the history, geography and geology
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A Hand-book of Proverbs: comprising an entire republication of Ray’s Collection of English Proverbs with large additions; compiled by Henry G. Bohn (1855) A proverb is a short expression of popular wisdom that offers practical advice or teaches a lesson. Proverbs, such as those found
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The Naval Chronicle was a British periodical published in forty volumes between January 1799 and December 1818. It was the most influential maritime journal of its day, published during a turbulent period when the Royal Navy was involved in the French Revolutionary Wars (1793–1801), the
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or An account of the antiquitys and remarkable curiositys in nature or art observed through travels in Great Brittan by William Stukeley. London, 1724 Dr William Stukeley (1687-1765) was the most renowned English antiquary of the eighteenth century. In the era of the Enlightenment and
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5,200 archaeological and ethnographic artifacts including items from UK, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Peru and N. America.
A remarkable collection of 3,500 coins, tokens and medals - Roman, Greek, Indian, American and British.
4,000 maps and prints and 150 framed prints, maps and paintings.
8,000 from the 16th century to 19th century, remain in the collection, together with a small collection of manuscripts and some of Layton's personal papers.
Thomas Layton lived in Brentford, Middlesex between 1826 and 1911... read more
Download a walk through Victorian Brentford and discover some of Layton's legacy
Purchase a beautifully illustrated book by Mike Galer, called Layton's Legacy.