John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles, The Chronicles of England, and The Annales of England; and also A Survey of London. A. L. Rowse has described him as "one of the best historians of that age; indefatigable in the trouble he took, thorough and conscientious, accurate – above all things devoted to truth".
Monument with effigy of John Stow, Church of St Andrew Undershaft, City of London, with arms of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors and Latin inscription: "Either do things worth writing or write things worth reading"
The church of St Andrew Undershaft, London, where Stow is buried
Stow's Survay of London, 1618 edition
An 18th-century engraving of Stow's monument
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts. The essence of antiquarianism is a focus on the empirical evidence of the past, and is perhaps best encapsulated in the motto adopted by the 18th-century antiquary Sir Richard Colt Hoare, "We speak from facts, not theory."
Ole Worm's cabinet of curiosities, from Museum Wormianum, 1655
"Antiquaries": portraits of 20 influential antiquaries and historians published in Crabb's Universal Historical Dictionary (1825). Featured are: Giraldus Cambrensis, John Leland, Guido Panciroli, John Stow, William Camden, Justus Lipsius, Joseph Justus Scaliger, Johannes Meursius, Hubert Goltzius, Henry Spelman, Charles Patin, Philipp Clüver, William Dugdale, Claudius Salmasius, Friedrich Spanheim, Johann Georg Graevius, Jakob Gronovius, Thomas Hearne,
William Camden (1551–1623), author of the Britannia, wearing the tabard and chain of office of Clarenceux King of Arms. Originally published in the 1695 edition of Britannia.
Pit Mead Roman villa mosaic, illustrations by Catherine Downes, engraved by James Basire and presented to the SAL by Daines Barrington
