This sumptuous production was published in an era when colour illustration of the interiors of buildings was virtually unknown.  It was the brainchild of the watercolour artist W. H. Pyne, who had previously been associated with the well known publisher of prints and illustrated books, Rudolf Ackermann.  Despite Pyne’s artistic credentials, Ackermann had usually preferred to use him as an author, and it was as author and publisher that he was associated with the present work.  The plates were by a variety of artists, including Charles Wild, James Stephanoff and William Westall; Wild was responsible for the image of St George’s Hall.  This had changed substantially in appearance during King Charles II’s reign from how it had been depicted in Ashmole’s work, substituting a magnificent plaster ceiling by Antonio Verrio for the bare wooden beams of Ashmole’s time.  This copy of Pyne’s work has two states of the aquatinted plate, one black and white, one coloured.