Major architectural book features 18th-century SE1

Colombo Street as pictured in the book (left) and a 2004 view by Leigh Hatts

The frontispiece shows lost timber houses in Ewer Street, the flyleaf is a drawing of William Blake's house in Hercules Road and the dust jacket is a colour photograph of a house in Lower Marsh.

The chapter on Southwark and Bermondsey runs to 44 pages packed with illustrations and maps. The latter show St George's Fields making the Borough and Bermondsey like neighbouring country towns between river and countryside.

Hopton Street as pictured in the book (left) and a 2004 view by Leigh Hatts

Photographs capture timber houses dating from maybe the 1690s in Colombo Street; the building next to The Wheatsheaf in Borough Market is revealed as early 18th-century and a three-wheel milk cart is seen outside Peggs Dairy in Sumner Street.

This is an invaluable and fascinating book.

• The Small House in Eighteenth Century London by Peter Guillery (Yale £40)