Sentence:  He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him [...] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the <WSD>previous</WSD> century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Prior; occurring before something else, either in time or order.