( - 1783)
Benjamin Cole was from a well-known family of engravers. He began his career engraving maps and trade cards. His earliest architectural works are thought to be his series of English and Welsh cathedrals, published in 1715. These prints were incorporated into a series of ‘Prospects’, published by John Overton in the 1720s. Cole also engraved plates for ‘Views of the Several Parts of the Palace or Castle of Versailles’ (1725) for Overton. In 1736 Cole and William Henry Toms engraved the plates for architect Nicholas Hawksmoor’s ‘A Short Historical Account of London Bridge’. However, Cole more commonly engraved portraits and decorative subjects, such as bookplates, after works by contemporary artists.
