'Theatrum Scotiae'

John Slezer's 'Theatrum Scotiae' is an important record of Scottish towns, castles and palaces in the 17th century. For most of these places, it contains some of the earliest views that survive.

Key evidence of the period

Together with historical maps and geographical descriptions, the book provides key evidence of the built landscape of the period. Details in the images, the choice of locations, and themes in the texts also give us a valuable insight into Scottish nobility and genteel society at that time.

Images from different editions

In all there were seven editions of 'Theatrum Scotiae'. The original edition of 1693 had 57 numbered plates. In the following six editions, some of the original plates were not used, while new plates were added to form different numbered sequences.

Images online

As well as the original 57 images, we have included some engravings that appeared only in later editions. You can browse the images by place or subject or view them in page order:

You can read more about the making of 'Theatrum Scotiae' in our page about John Slezer.

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