Aberdeen from the South

London: Smith & Elder, 1822. Hand-coloured aquatint, by John Clark. An important topographical view of Aberdeen, county town of Aberdeenshire in north east Scotland

This view should perhaps be seen as an immediate forerunner of John Clark's own Views in Scotland published in London between 1824 and 1825 with a total of 35 plates. The view is taken from the south bank of the Dee looking across the river to what a contemporary gazetteer calls 'New Aberdeen', the same work notes that the town was situated 'on rising ground, on the north bank of the Dee, near the mouth of the river, and about 1 1/2 miles to the south of the river Dona royal burgh and parish in the county of the same name.' (Fullarton [publishers] A Gazetteer of the World 1856, I, p.12). The population in 1821 was 26,484 and had risen to 35,260 by 1841. The gazetteer notes that New Aberdeen 'is a large and handsome city with spacious streets. Union-street is upwards of a mile in length, and of great beauty. Broad-street... is celebrated as having been the residence of Lord Byron while under his mother's care.' The chief sources of income were from the docks, salmon fishing, machine manufacturing, spinning and weaving of cotton, flax and wool.