LOGGAN (David) Oxonia Illustrata, sive Omnium Celeberrimae istius Universitatis Collegiorum, Aularum, Bibliothecae Bodleianae, Scholarum Publicarum, Theatri Sheldoniani; ne non Urbis Totius Scenographia.
LOGGAN (David) Oxonia Illustrata, sive Omnium Celeberrimae istius Universitatis Collegiorum, Aularum, Bibliothecae Bodleianae, Scholarum Publicarum, Theatri Sheldoniani; ne non Urbis Totius Scenographia. Oxford: e Theatro Sheldoniano [actually L. Lichfield]. 1675, entirely engraved on copper, consisting of titlepage, royal privilege, dedication to Charles II, preface, 40 plates (11 topographical, including the fine bird's-eye view of the city, 1 costume, 28 colleges and halls) of perspective views (all of which are double-sheet except Christ Church, which is on three), folio, (438x310mm ) with central fold an American lady disliked one as her copies did not have this . . . it was a giclee' print ie computer copy!.
Loggan is the earliest and best collection of Oxford views although almost contemporary to Guillelimus Williams Kip and the Almanacks. The accurate detail implies considerable time spent on the study of the buildings and on the preparation of the plates. The Oxford views, as the Introduction tells us, had been 'long expected, and begun several years before' [diu expectatum Opus, annis abhinc aliquot susceptum']. Wood refers to the plates as early as 1665, which is the date that Loggan lived at Nuffield in Oxfordshire, and the possible date that he started work on the views. He mentions them again in 1669, when Loggan was able to exhibit many of the plates as finished. Wood clearly expected that the sheets would have been ready in 1674 to be bound with his Historia et Antiquitates, by those that wished it. He both disclaimed responsibility for the captions to the plates in his introduction to the reader, and several times elsewhere referred to them as 'the cuts belonging to my book'. This, and the fact that Loggan's Index refers to Wood, relating the illustration to the place where a history of the building can be found, provides clear evidence of an intention that Wood's history and Loggan's views should appear together. Why they didn't is unclear, because it seems that they were ready. Fell had written, on Jan. 19th, 1674/5, that the plates were 'in a manner quite finished'. It may be that the tensions which had arisen between Fell and Wood over the editing of Historia et Antiquitates hold the key to this puzzle. The plates were not printed at the Sheldonian, but at Leonard Lichfield's house in Holywell, where it is presumed that the rolling press was housed. (Madan.)
Biography David Loggan, (b Danzig [now Gdansk], bapt 27 Aug 1634; d London, bur 1 Aug 1692). British engraver, draughtsman and painter.He married in 1663 and moved two years later to Nuffield, Oxon, to avoid the plague. He was living in Oxford by 1669, when he was appointed 'public sculptor' to the university. He then proceeded to draw and engrave all the Oxford colleges in bird's-eye views for his famous folio Oxonia illustrata , published in 1675, the year that he was made a British citizen. The book appeared in two editions which included :- Engraved title-page, index of plates, privilege leaf, dedication to Charles II, preface leaf, double-page plan of Oxford and 39 copper-engraved views, 1 folding, 38 double-page. The rarer second edition was printed, unusually, on thicker paper,. The plates in the second edition are easily recognised by the addition of a plate number in the bottom right-hand corner. Otherwise they are unchanged from the first edition, and the strength of the impression is indicative of the comparatively small number of copies printed in 1675 That year he once again settled in London, living in Leicester Fields, where he let rooms to aristocratic patrons, notably Sir Thomas Isham, and acted as their agent in the acquisition of works of art. From 1676 he was involved in preparing the folio Cantabrigia illustrata, and in 1690, the year it was published, he was made engraver to Cambridge University.:::All pages show a stock image then will time allowing show the particular copy available for sale. Scans/ digital photo's taken from the base of the print as this is where damage occurs all are full page NOT trimmed or cleaned in any way normally as I try to take a warts and all 1.Frontispicium Scholarum Publicarum Universitatis Oxoniensis (p 23)
All are shown with larger clear pics followed by images of those for sale ulless the mint ones in which case as per large pic