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Etching of Edinburgh's Parliament Square the morning after a fire on the corner of High Street and Parliament Close, a secondary outbreak of the Great Fire of Edinburgh, which had started on the 15th. James Braidwood, who would later perish while fighting London's Tooley Street Fire in 1861, had formed a permanent fire brigade in the city two months before the blaze. This view looks east to destroyed tenements, replaced by the Court of Exchequer, completing a plan, first proposed in 1807, that had been blocked by the residents.
Braidwood and his brigade were subjected to an inquiry regarding their response but were exonerated of all blame as public officials had given them contradictory orders. A new regulation was passed, giving the City Firemaster total command of all firefighting operations. The capacity of the brigade expanded as well and within a year, the city gained an additional 52 firecocks.
The Lizars were a Scottish family of engravers and printers who produced many views and maps. Daniel Lizars Sr. (1754-1812) was the son of a shoemaker, but he apprenticed with Andrew Bell, a printer and engraver. Lizars set up his own printworks near St. Giles Cathedral and took on his own apprentices, including George Bartholomew, whose son John would go on to found the important mapmaking firm later know as John Bartholomew & Son Ltd.
Daniel Sr. had three sons: Daniel Jr., John, and William Home. He also had a daughter, Jane Home. Daniel Jr. (1793-1875), the youngest of the boys, apprenticed in his father’s shop alongside George Bartholomew. When his father died in 1812, Daniel Jr. took over much of the business, expanding it and specializing in maps. The company went bankrupt in 1832, however, and Daniel emigrated to Canada.
John Lizars (1792-1860), the middle son, studied medicine and became Professor of Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, as well as senior surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
William Home Lizars (1788-1859), the eldest, also apprenticed in his father’s shop. After learning engraving, William entered the Trustees’ Academy to learn under John Graham. He was a skilled painter and artist. When his father died, and after his Daniel Jr. left, he carried on printing and invented a method of etching that looks like wood engraving.
![A New Map of the North Part of Scotland [North sheet only]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/89745.jpg)