The second state as usual with the plate number 12 engraved top right. The brothers Samuel and Nathaniel Buck were born in Richmond, North Yorkshire and became interested in sketching town prospects because of Ralph Thoresby, a local antiquary. From 1719 they produced and published a series of views of towns in the north of England. Each was available to subscribers for between 2 and 5 shillings each. They soon outgrew the north and moved south to London. Their tours to sketch were prepared well in advance, potential subscribers being contacted before hand usually through local press. The following summer season would be when the view was prepared. On occasions other artists were employed to enhance the foreground image and bring it to life. Infrequently two prospects were designed to pair together such as those of Deptford and Greenwich and Chatham and Rochester. This created a longer panorama with greater impact. At the end of the season they would return to London and began the process of engraving. Nathaniel Buck died in 1756 and in 1774 Robert Sayer acquired the copper plates from Samuel and published them as 'Buck's Antiquities', a magnificent three volume work. In 1779 Samuel Buck died. Their perspective panoramic views have never been surpassed and are a very valuable record of a pre-industrial Britain. No other series of views ever published was as extensive or detailed. They provided the model for numerous derivatives including the inset views to Emanuel Bowen and Thomas Kitchin's 'Large English Atlas' c.1755, Robert and James Dodsley's 'England Illustrated' 1764, Nathaniel Spencer's 'Complete English Traveller' 1773, George Walpoole's 'new & Complete English Traveller' 1784 and the European, London and Universal Magazines from the 1750s. The second state as usual with the plate number 12 engraved top right. Hyde 'A Prospect of Britain'.

A chart of the Indian Ocean showing the declinations of the compass from George Louis Leclerc Buffon's 'Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particulaire' 1749-04. This map appears in the Minereaux volume of 1788. It shows the waters from South Africa to Borneo including Arabia, Indian and South East Asia. The measurements are the work of La Perouse during his fateful voyage supplemented by those of the eminent scientist Jean-Charles Borda.

A very good example of the first edition of one of the earliest county histories and one of the best by the Leicestershire antiquary and topographer William Burton (1575-1645). He was the brother to the English scholar Robert Burton (1577-1640) best known as the author of 'The Anatomy of Melancholy'. This example bears instead of the usual William Kip map of the county a very rare one by WILLIAM SMITH with which this book has a SPECIAL CONNECTION. The work was originally written for Burton's private use but with the insistence of his patron George, Marquis of Buckingham, it was published. He began work on it in 1597 and had probably completed it by about 1604. If it is criticised for anything it is usually that too much was spent on recording various family genealogies. The plates however are highly rated. The portrait of Burton at the front aged 47 is by the great portrait engraver Francis Delaram. The beautifully engraved title page displays figures of Fame (winged) and Truth (naked), the left side bears a woman representing Leicestershire whilst on the right a woman representing 'Antiquitye'. At the bottom is a plan of Lindley, Burton's seat. The text consists of an alphabetical list of the towns and villages each followed by short descriptive text including details of notable buildings and families. Apart from the fact that this example is in particularly fine condition the most interesting feature is the inclusion of William Smith's map of Leicestershire and Rutland. The usual map is that of William Kip originally published in the 1607 edition of William Camden's 'Britannia'. The map is drawn from that of Christopher Saxton but as we are told on the third page of the address to the reader Burton provided 80 new place names for a map engraved by Jodocus Hondius in Amsterdam, "at the request of a friend of mine [such a shame he didn't name Smith here!] I rectified (certain yeres passed, Christopher Saxtons mappe of this Countie) with an addition of 80 townes, which was graven at Amsterdam by Jodocus Hondius 1602 and since imitated by M. Speed" (Burton). It was from this map that William Kip drew his. This is one of the few contemporary references to an incomplete series of English County maps which had been known popularly as those of the Anonymous mapmaker. Recent research identified them to be the work of William Smith. This superb example of the map was clearly inserted at a later date most likely commensurate with its publication by John Overton, c.1670. This is the third state of the map; the first two are of great rarity. Provenance: bookplate of The Right Honourable Washington Sewallis Earl Ferrers dated by hand 'Staunton Hants 1848'; Old Hall Bookshop; private English collection. Anderson (1881) p.164; Deadman & Brooks (2010) p. 20; ESTC S107138; Lowndes (1864) 330; STC (1986) 4179; Taylor (1968) II 1237; Upcott (1968) pp. 481-2.

There is ONLY KNOWN BOUND COLLECTION OF FIRST STATE MAPS. The ‘Political Magazine’ began publishing in January 1780 at the hands of John Bew, bookseller and publisher of 29 Paternoster Row, London. From the beginning, Bew was keen to continue the tradition of eighteenth century Magazines of including maps. As an engraver, he employed John Lodge ((fl.1755-96) who had previously worked for the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’. In April 1782, a map of Ireland was published, one of Scotland in October 1784 and finally England and Wales in November 1785. John Murray (1737-93) joined Bew in partnership in February 1785 and from April of that year was in sole control. January 1787 saw the publication of Middlesex, followed by the Isle of Wight and Kent by May. By then a plan had clearly formulated to publish a full series of the county maps as from the following issue of June 1787 the county maps were issued in alphabetical order virtually monthly. In October 1789 Robert Butters (fl.1772-1809) of Fleet Street took control and continued the work with the publication of Oxford through completion in December 1790 with that of Yorkshire. It was to be the very last issue of the work.The county maps up to Northamptonshire with the sole excetpion of Nottingham are all in the very rare first state bearing reference to the ‘Political Magazine’ and date of issue in the upper right corner. The name of Lodge as engraver appears lower right along with the publishers imprint below and a further date. The imprints on the maps reflect the change of ownership with the counties. The ensuing maps are all made up from the second state in which the imprints are removed. Traces of old folds on the earlier maps indicate this example is made up of magazine issues of the maps. The three general maps published some time before the counties were started are included. The atlas is very rare but is always found in a state where all imprints are removed from the plates. None of the known examples provide any publisher information, all lack a title page but one or two examples bear a title label affixed to the upper board reading ‘Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland’. There is no date although Fordham recorded an example with a watermark date of 1795 present.The references to Cluer Dicey in some carto-bibliographies refer to a copy of the last composite Henry Overton atlas held at Pembroke College, Cambridge. In this example, several of the Lodge plates are pasted in, which of course provides no further bibliographical information to us. It is unlikely to be John Lodge who was most likely employed to engrave the plates for the publisher’s and who died 1796. The most likely candidate for issuing the bound collections is Robert Butters. He was the final publisher of the ‘Political Magazine’ and therefore the most likely owner of the plates at this point. Why though, were the imprints removed for the second issue?Provenance: the following all inscribed on first front free endpaper, 'Amelia Gillman from Grandma Gillman 1854', 'W. Gray family map book', Henry Gray, 32 Dean St. Soho West, London ', August 19 1877 Given to him by his affectionate father'. Carroll (1996) 51; Chubb (1927) 249; Harris, F. J. T. & Angel, J. L., ‘A History of Paper Making in and Near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England’, in ‘Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology Journal’ for 1975 pages 9-65; Hodson (1984-97) p. 70; Jolly (1990) I pp. 145-72; refer Shirley (2004) T.Lod 1a (second edition); Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).

The first edition first state of E. Killwick Calver's survey of the entrance to the River Tyne featuring in great detail the city of Newcastle. The city is depicted before any bridges had been built but the Stanhope and Tyne Railway is depicted. The Newcastle and Tynemouth Railway is also illustrated. The Jarrow Slake in the south west is shown before the Tyne Dock's were built. On the north side of the Tyne the Northumberland Dock is similarly lacking.

Robert Morden is arguably best known for the series of maps he produced for the first edition of Dr. Edmund Gibson’s translation of William Camden’s 'Britannia'. Gibson (1669-1748) had first projected the work in 1692 when a Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford. He turned to Morden (d.1703) to provide the maps. His sources are varied and are analysed by Skelton. The atlas was published in later editions in 1722, c.1730, 1753 and 1772. The availability of text leaves printed for the edition of 1722 had by now been exhausted and the book was out of print. This 1753 edition has had the text entirely reset word for word. The plates have been retouched in a number of instances and there are even some revisions made. During this time the ownership had changed too. Originally published by Awnsham Churchill it was in the hands of ten publishers in 1730 and the present 14 publishers by 1753. Hodson goes into great detail about the various changes of shareholdings. Records survive recording the print run as being 500 copies. A lovely example. Provenance: bookplates of ‘Thomas Wright Esqr. of Santon Downham, Suffolk 1767’ and Frank Cubitt; public auction. Beresiner pp. 157-60; Chubb 116; Hodson 171; Shirley BL T.Camd 5d; Skelton 117.

Robert Morden is arguably best known for the series of maps he produced for the first edition of Dr. Edmund Gibson’s translation of William Camden’s Britannia. Gibson (1669-1748) had first projected the work in 1692 when a Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford. He turned to Morden (d.1703) to provide the maps. His sources are varied and are analysed by Skelton. This second edition of Edmund Gibson’s version of William Camden’s Britannia was some years in the making as evidenced by the Preface where he states that ‘about twelve Years since, I turn’d my Thoughts in earnest, towards the farther Improvement and Perfecting of this Work’. This included new information received from a variety of correspondents he goes on to name. It appears the delays were largely due to the pressure of his diocesan career. He became Bishop of Lincoln (1716-20) and of London (1720-48). The Churchill brothers Awnsham and John had become in the interim one of the most successful booksellers in London. Indeed, Awnsham having made his fortune bought an estate in Dorset and became M.P. for Dorchester 1705-10. John Churchill died in 1716 as indeed had Robert Morden in 1703. The third partner Abel Swale was out of business having fallen on desperate times. Despite closing his shop in 1719 and selling most of his stock to William Taylor it appears Churchill had retained the rights to the Britannia. For this edition, he arranged for Taylor to be the distributor. In answer to some of the original criticism about the accuracy of the maps, Churchill had all but eleven of the plates amended. Hodson in his remarkable bibliography, details some of the alterations to each plate. On the county map this was possibly due to there being no suitable correspondent to supply the necessary information. That of the smaller Islands was altered during the issue of this edition and provides a later variant. In this example, the map is in the earlier state. Of the original fifty plates two were replaced, that of North Wales is one. That of Scotland is replaced by two separate maps of North and South Scotland derived from that by John Senex published in the New General Atlas, 1721. The text underwent a large printing, enough to supply the following edition c.1730. Provenance: private English collection acquired after 2012. Carroll (1996) no. 19; Chubb (1927) 115; ESTC T144701; Hodson (1984-97) 169; Shirley (2004) T.Camb 5c.

This map of Ireland is derived from Baptista Boazio's map of Ireland dating from 1595 of which only a few examples survive. This is the first available printed map following the improved cartography from the first fully illustrated edition of Camden's great work 'Britannia'. There were three editions in 1607, 1610 and 1637, this example being from the second with no text on the verso. The map appears in only the one state. Bonar-Law p. 36-7; Skelton 5.

From the first fully illustrated edition of Camden's classic work, the 'Britannia'. An example of the second state from the third edition. Refer to Skelton no. 5

Following the American Revolution there was a burgeoning domestic production of cartography. Up to this point the market had been dominated by British published material with very little locally produced. One of the first American pioneers in this new market was Matthew Carey (1760-1839). Born in Dublin, Ireland, he was dropped at just a year old by his nurse and sustained lifelong injuries as a result. Possibly therefore he became a shy child and hid himself in books. From an early age he wanted to be a book printer and publisher. He wrote his first piece, against duelling, when he was 17 years old. He wrote a tract anonymously in support of the Catholics which brought about a reward of £40 for his arrest by a conservative group. He left for Paris where he was introduced to Benjamin Franklin. He worked with Franklin at his press in Passy before returning to Ireland where he set up a newspaper. Within a year, he had incurred the wrath of the government and was committed to Newgate Prison for a short while. With a new prosecution impending he fled following his release for America on 7 September 1784 by dressing as a woman. He arrived in Philadelphia with just 12 guineas to his name. He received a summons from General Lafayette who gave him $400. On 25 January 1785, he published the first issue of the ‘Pennsylvania Herald’ which supported the conservative party. It proved to be a success. However, it drew him in to a bitter dispute ending in a duel with Colonel Oswald, the editor of the ‘Independent Gazetteer’ in January 1786 which left him badly wounded. In the thigh. He was one of the founders of the ‘Columbia Magazine’ and then published the ‘American Museum’.Geographical texts were being published in the newly formed United States, the first was by Jedidiah Morse whose ‘American Geography’ in 1789 contained 2 maps. This was followed by Benjamin Workman’s ‘Elements of Geography’ with 3 maps. Collections of sea charts were available by Matthew Clark in 1790 and John Norman in 1791. The idea of a small America atlas or gazetteer was first demonstrated by Joseph Scott in 1795[94]. Carey prepared his own ‘American Pocket Atlas’ the following year. Issued with 19 maps of the United States there was a second edition in 1801. The edition of 1805 was expanded with a map to illustrate the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. In this 1814 edition three further new maps were introduced; those of the Upper Territories, Mississippi Territory and Missouri Territory. The latter incorporates information from the Lewis & Clark expedition (Schwartz). There does exist in the Library of Congress an extremely rare 1813 edition which may have suffered during the War of 1812. It contains the same maps, but only one other example could be traced at auction in the last 40 years, lacking all maps. The folding tables at the end include population statistics from the Census of 1810 and Export figures for each state.A good example with a fine frontier provenance. In 1818 Louisville was growing rapidly, within 10 years it would have a population of 7,000. It is interesting to see from the text that even in 1810 Kentucky had 2,000 distilleries! Provenance: with manuscript notation at the back of ‘Paul Jaminiere, Louisville Kentucky 5 December 1818’; Andrew Cumming, January 2000; Burden collection. Howes C137; Phillips 1372 & 4523; Ristow 151; Sabin 10856; Schwartz & Ehrenberg (1980) p. 231.