Drawn about 1810, the panorama gives a detailed vista of London. The City of London and Southwark are in the foreground and the scene extends as far as Richmond, with Windsor Castle visible on the horizon. The towers and spires of Wren's city churches stand out above the surrounding houses and offices, as do St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, shot towers, windmills and palaces.

The Thames is full of shipping, horse-drawn traffic streams over the nearby bridges, and everywhere there is lively incident, including a fire, a funeral and a military salute. Although the artist seems to have been more interested in providing an entertaining spectacle than an absolutely accurate picture, and some detail has been lost through damage to the sheets' edges, the panorama offers a marvellously lively representation of what it was like to be in London nearly 200 years ago.

The original Rhinebeck panorama was auctioned at Sotheby's on 9 June 1998 and bought by the Museum of London for over £200,000. Our three-quarter sized reproduction - also on four sheets and in full colour - is available for a rather more modest £20. It was a sensational success when we first published it in 1981, thanks to a front page story in The Times, and it has remained one of our best sellers ever since.

Our version also offers keys to identify the most important buildings, drawn by the Society's chairman Peter Jackson. And there is a scholarly introduction by Ralph Hyde, retired keeper of prints and drawings at the Guildhall Library and the leading expert on early topographical panoramas.