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John Thomas Smith
1766–1833
Best remembered as "Antiquity Smith," this lively London engraver and antiquarian turned the streets, characters, and vanishing corners of his city into books that still feel vivid today. He also worked at the British Museum and wrote a famously sharp life of the sculptor Joseph Nollekens.
3 Audiobooks
A Book for a Rainy Day; or, Recollections of the Events of the Years 1766-1833
by John Thomas Smith
The Cries of London
by John Thomas Smith
Lives of Famous London Beggars
by John Thomas Smith
About the author
Born on June 23, 1766, John Thomas Smith was an English painter, engraver, and antiquarian with a deep love of old London. He trained under the sculptor Joseph Nollekens, became known for recording historic buildings and everyday street life, and earned the nickname "Antiquity Smith" for his passion for the past.
Smith wrote and illustrated several books, including Antiquities of London and Vagabondiana, works that mixed visual detail with a strong curiosity about the people and places around him. He later served as Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, a role that reflected his standing in the art and antiquarian world.
He died in 1833, but his work remains valuable not only as art, but as a record of a changing city. His writing on Nollekens became especially well known for its unusually frank and entertaining tone, helping keep his name alive beyond the print room.