The British Library Diary 2008 is illustrated with works from the Topographical Collection of George III, now held by the British Library. The collection of some 50,000 items, dating back from 1824 to around 1588, includes printed maps and topographical drawings, watercolours and prints. There are works by leading 18th-century watercolourists, among them Paul Sandby, William Pars, Samuel Hieronymus Grimm and Michelangelo Rooker. This evocative collection is far more than a mere accumulation of maps and views, it is an expression of British patriotism and it breathes the interests, activities and attitudes of the British people.
