Print entitled 'The West India Docks' and, lower right of image, 'for the Beauties of England & Wales' which shows it is a plate for this well-known multi-volume work of 1801-15 by E. W. Brayley and John Britton, published by Vernor & Hood. The West India Docks, between Limehouse and Blackwall, were designed by Ralph Walker, civil engineer, as 'the Merchants' Place' in 1799 and opened in 1802. They covered 295 acres including the three-quarter-mile-long canal which ships entered through the lock in Blackwall reach, thus being able to by-pass the Isle of Dogs. Two of the warehouses survive, one now being the Museum in Docklands.