Great Fire of London Tea Towel

Exclusive to London Museum, this tea towel is a unique gift and great quality.  Digitally printed using sustainable water based inks, printed in the UK.

• Dimensions: 48 x 70cm
• 100% cotton 

Image cropped from artwork: 'Shlohavot' or, 'The burning of London in the year 1666' from the London Museum archive:

Samuel Rolle was one of several people who wrote books about the Great Fire of London. Much of the literature produced was religious and counselled Londoners to mend their sinful ways and cope with the disaster through prayer and their faith in God. Rolle's book also reveals some very interesting information about the fire, how people felt about it and its effect on Londoners: how some nearly died of fright, the losses that they suffered, how they got lost among the ruins and couldn't even recognise their own street. He voices his disgust at opportunists profiting from the fire - landlords in the unburned areas who raised their rents, carters who charged extortionate fees to carry away people's belongings and thieves who looted people's possessions.

The book also has a Hebrew title, "shalhevet'ya", which is a combination of 'God's Fire' or 'God's Flame'. Rolle was a church minister and probably knew classical Hebrew and added it to the title. There is a fold-out woodcut of the Great Fire inside the book, showing huge plumes of smoke above the City and many boats filled with escaping people's belongings on the river.