1. History
Robert Morden (fl. 1668-1703) is
known as a globe-maker operating at least as early as 1668 and he was
advertising his own printed works by 1671.[i]
He occupied
premises in New Cheapside and Cornhill where he carried on business under the
sign of The Atlas as a map and book
seller as well as maker of instruments and globes. He published the first recognisable
county map playing card set with William Berry and others (B&B 15)
in 1676. Morden is thought to have engraved a series of maps shortly before
1693, for inclusion in Dr. Edmund Gibson´s new edition of Camden´s Britannia (which
appeared in 1695) and may have rejected them as too small or there was some
form of misunderstanding.[ii]
Morden then produced a second, larger set of maps (B&B 20).
Dr. Edmund Gibson´s proposals of 1692
conceived the counties appearing in order from west to east and south to north.
There was some delay and the final map plates were not ready until 1695. In the
second prospectus of 1693 it states: The Maps mentioned in the former
Proposals … were not thought Large and Comprehensive enough”.[iii]
Consequently,
the complete set of these smaller maps did not appear until 1701 (B&B 21),
as The New Description and
State of England and published in London by Robert Morden, Thos Cockerill and Ralph Smith. The
Second Edition was issued in 1704 (only change being a new title page) as The New Description and State of England
published this time by S and J Sprint, J Nicholson, and S
Burroughs; A Bell and R Smith.
Quarto editions (layout changed accordingly) and editions with a Smith imprint have
also been reported.
The 1708 edition, Fifty Six New and Accurate Maps ...
Begun by Mr Morden: Perfected, Corrected and Enlarg´d by Mr Moll and now
published by John Nicholson, John Sprint, Andrew Bell and Ralph
Smith, was intended as a road book (it included a table of the road distances)
with maps revised by Hermann Moll (see, for example, B&B 25, including distinct
upside-down directions). Consequently, maps show a number of changes (see
below) including a simple compass, road and name changes. There was no second
edition.
The New Description and State of England. Title page of first atlas issue. Illustration courtesy of the British Library
Also in 1708, John Nicholson started to
compile a new complete system of geography, the Atlas geographicus. The monthly series
began with Europe (less British Isles), with Asia and Africa following. America
was published in 17 parts spread over two years in 1714-15. With so much new
material Nicholson had decided with John Morphew to publish
Britain separately as Magna
Britannia et Hibernia. Originally planned to be a monthly
publication (like the Atlas geographicus), the project actually took 17
years to finally complete.
Published in 92 parts starting in 1714,
Devon appeared in Sept/Nov 1716 in Nos 11 (second part of Derby and first part
of Devon with map) & 12 (Devon completed and first part of Dorset). This
would, in fact, later form part of Volume I which was published in 1720, at the
same time as Volume II. Hence, individual monthly issues of Devon are from 1716
(but none are recorded) and any individual county volumes lack a title page.
From advertisements in newspapers and
various letters it seems that the Rev. Anthony Hall (1679-1723) of Queen’s
College, Oxford, was the compiler of at least parts of the work, basing the
text on Camden but supplementing it with local information and including a
mileage table adapted from Garrett (see Simons, B&B 9). The later publishing history of the
county maps is fairly complicated and Donald Hodson´s work is the first point
of reference.
Thomas Cox, a publisher (and not a
cleric), acquired the publication in 1724 and oversaw completion of the part
work in 1731. As such the later Volumes III to VI were published as bound
volumes in 1724, 1727, 1730 and 1731 respectively.[iv] The counties were also sold separately
from about 1730, possibly to clear stocks, but each usually with a new title
page: i.e. A Compleat
History of Devonshire ... Printed by E & R Nutt and sold
by T Cox Cornhill MDCCXXX.[v]
However, no advertising for these individual sections (or the complete work)
have been seen after April 1731 and county volumes in this form are
comparatively rare. However, most
counties can be found bound separately but lacking title page. These may have
been purchased separately before 1730 and bound by the customer´s own binder[vi].
London with Middlesex has been seen with an adapted Volume III Magna
Britannia title page.[vii]
Cox died in 1734 and his complete
stock of unsold copies was sold to Caesar Ward and Richard Chandler in 1738-9 who quickly began
selling copies of Magna Britannia using the existing typescript but new
title pages for Volumes I to VI.[viii]
The six-volume work itself was issued with
new title pages; the individual counties were sold with the Compleat
History title page but with a Ward and Chandler sticker pasted over the Cox
imprint.[ix]
Notts is reported with the Ward and Chandler title page to Volume IV.[x]
These individual
counties would have been available until 1744-5; Chandler died in 1744 and Ward
became bankrupt in 1745.
A Compleat History of Derbyshire with Ward and Chandler label stuck over
original imprint. Illustration courtesy of National Library of Scotland.
William Sandby took over Richard
Chandler´s business and he, together with Ward, advertised the counties singly
until Ward´s bankruptcy when the latter´s 4/5 share in the work was put up for
sale. Bought by Henry Lintot for just £38. 10s. it also included a box of copper
plates. There is no evidence to show Lintot sold any of the surplus typescript
he had bought, nor any indication maps or text were reprinted; presumably
Lintot was more interested in acquiring the copper. Stock, presumably printed
pages, were bought by Joseph Marshall and advertised in 1751 but no copies with
his imprint have been found.[xi]
Around the end of the century most
counties appeared with one of a number of title pages and dated to the early
1700s and naming the original publishers. A number of variants[xii]
are known and Devonshire has been seen both as Magna Britannia et Hibernia,
antiqua & nova published In the Savoy: Printed by E and R Nutt; and
sold by T. Cox at the Lamb, under the Royal Exchange, Cornhill, MDCXX-XXXI
and also as A
topographical, ecclesiastical, and natural history of [Devon] (title block usually left blank, but see
below) By The Rev. Thomas Cox. In the Savoy: Printed by Eliz. Nutt; and Sold
by M Nutt, in Exeter-Exchange in the Strand and J Morphew near
Stationers-Hall. MDCC. These all seem to be circa 1800 or later.
This was possibly an attempt to sell off
remaining copies as of interest to any antiquary and although Hodson alleges
they are found “fairly commonly” only a few counties are known in each of the
variants. They can usually be identified by naming the author as “Rev.” Thomas
Cox[xiii]
and lack a mileage chart after the final page of text.
The actual authorship is still disputed
to some extent, exacerbated by the inclusion of Thomas Cox as publisher from
1724. Cox is noted in the imprint in the Magna Britannia Vol. III as at the
Corner of St Swithin´s Alley, Cornhill (and on parts issues 44-50) and by
April 1725 (Vol. IV and parts issues after 50) as being at the Lamb, under
the Royal Exchange. Cox was certainly influential in the publication of the
work. He had taken over during the issue of Volume III after three of the
initial players had died: John Nutt, one of the printers had died in 1716; John
Nicholson, who had originally planned the Atlas geographicus died the
year later; and his co-initiator, John Morphew, died 1720. Cox took over the project and saw it finished
and, certainly by 1738, when he sold the work to Ward and Chandler, possessed
all the shares in the work.
Besides Dr Hall, the Reverend Thomas Cox
has been identified as a major author and it is his name that is provided on
the later eighteenth reissues under various titles. Gough[xiv]
writing shortly after Magna Britannia appeared had suggested Cox; but
Hodson (1984) was sceptical without firm evidence. Michael Leach[xv]
strongly believes that this indeed refers to the rector of Bloomfield in Essex
and later of Stock-Harvard near Chelmsford. Although Dr Hall is known to have
been involved with the first half a dozen parts issues, Leach believes he
probably wrote a large amount of the first 31 parts up until August 1720 when
Vols. I and II were published as such (including Devonshire). The Reverend Cox
may have assisted with the first two published volumes and completed the later
volumes following Dr Hall´s death in 1723[xvi].
A large number of local correspondents also supplied local information. It is
speculated that the later changes made to the large Morden map of Devon (circa
1722) centred around Hatherley were thus obtained (see B&B 20.2).
The Nutt family seem to have been
involved from the beginning and up until circa 1742. John Nutt was significant
as a pioneer of serial publications[xvii]
and was assignee of the royal law printing patent. He was an apprentice to his
cousin, Edward Jones, who was publishing The London Gazette from
premises “in the Savoy” until 1706. John Nutt was one of four assistants to
Jones when he accompanied William III and his army to Ireland in 1690. Jones
died in 1706 and by 1708 Nutt was printing instalments of Atlas geographicus.
Elizabeth Nutt (c.1666-1746), born
Elizabeth Carr, was already a successful businessperson in her own right before
she married John Nutt in 1692[xviii].
She was a “mercury”, or seller of newspapers and pamphlets from a bookseller's
shop at the Middle Temple Gate in Fleet Street. The two businesses combined and
Elizabeth and John Nutt became important printers, booksellers and distributors
in the early 1700s. John died in 1716 but Elizabeth continued the business and
was involved in book production until she died. Her son, Richard, joined her in
1724[xix]
and was active in the business. M Nutt is given as the bookseller Mary Nutt in Exeter Exchange in
the Strand in
various sources but none identify her as a relative.[xx]
Publication
dates – atlas issues
Maps in original state (1):
1.
1701 The New Description and State
of England, Containing the Mapps Of The Counties of England and Wales [xxi]
London.
Robert Morden, Thos Cockerill and Ralph Smith. 1701.[xxii]
The New Description and State of England,
Containing the Maps Of The Counties of England and Wales … by Mr Robert Morden.
The Second Edition
London.
S and J Sprint, J Nicholson, and S Burroughs; A Bell and R Smith. 1704.[xxiii]
The New Description and State of
England, … by Mr Robert Morden. The Second Edition
London.
A Bell and R Smith. 1704.[xxiv]
The New Description and State of
England … newly designed by Mr Robert Morden ...
London.
R Smith. 1704.[xxv]
The New Description and State of
England … drawn and engraven by Mr Hermann Moll ...
London. R Smith. 1704.[xxvi]
Magna Britannia et Hibernia Vol. III
title page adapted for individual county volume (London and Middlesex). Courtesy
of University College Library, London.
Maps in revised state (2):
2.
1708 Maps amended by Hermann Moll include addition of a compass, many counties have directions just outside county
border (often upside down), roads added or accentuated, and a number of additions
and name changes to places.
Fifty Six New and Accurate Maps ...
Begun by Mr Morden: Perfected, Corrected and Enlarg´d by Mr Moll
London.
John Nicholson, John Sprint, Andrew Bell and Ralph Smith. 1708.[xxvii]
Magna Britannia et Hibernia Antiqua
et Nova ... Mr Cambden (see Part 3)
London.
John Morphew. 1714-31.[xxviii]
Magna Britannia et Hibernia Volumes I-VI
London. M Nutt and J Morphew. 1720-1731.[xxix]
Magna Britannia Antiqua et Nova
London. Caesar Ward and Richard Chandler. 1738 (1739).[xxx]
[i] Carroll, Printed Maps of Lincolnshire 1576-1900; Lincoln Record
Society; 1996; Woodbridge. Globes have been sold at Christie´s by Morden and
Berry or the globe by Morden together with William Berry and Philip Lea at
Whipple Museum.
[ii] See Donald Hodson; County Atlases of
the British Isles; Vol. I; The Tewin Press; Welwyn; 1984. The majority of
this text has been adapted from this work but with addition of more library
holdings. See also Carroll, 1996.
[iii] See also David
Kingsley; Printed Maps of Sussex; Sussex Record Society; Lewes; 1982.
[iv] See Hodson entry 128, page 10 for
reference numbers and collation of the copies. Volume I contains preliminaries,
general maps and counties A-E including Devon.
[v] Two copies of Devon known; author´s collection
and at Bodleian.
[vi] Author´s copy is without title page or the mileage chart (which would
have been on the reverse of the following county) but in contemporary binding
with spine label “DEVONSHIRE COX´S” implying it was purchased while Cox was
still involved with its publication.
[vii] Information kindly
supplied by Rafa C Siodor at University College Library.
[viii] Gatherings B-G are, however, new as the
existing supply had run out; hence the first pages can be dated post-1738 with some
certainty; other pages are from the original edition.
[ix] London. Printed for C Ward and R
Chandler Booksellers, at the Ship without Temple-Bar: and sold at their Shops
in Coney-Street, York, and Scarborough-Spaw. – Where may be had any single
County.
[x] National Library
of Wales.
[xi] Hodson (1984) p.
30.
[xii] See especially Carroll, pages 65-66 where
5 variants for Lincolnshire are recorded.
[xiii] Of the five variant titles, four refer to
“Rev. Cox”, only one has simply T Cox.
[xiv] Richard Gough, the noted antiquary and
collector, writing in 1768, Anecdotes of British Topography (Printed by
W. Richardson and S. Clark: And sold by T. Payne, at the Mews Gate, and W. Brown,
in Fleet Street) and again in 1780, British Topography (J. Nichols and T. Payne), both
published in London.
[xv] Leach, Michael; The
Authorship of Magna Britannia et Hibernia, antiqua et nova; in Volume 19,
Issue 4 of The Library; OUP; December 2018.
[xvi] Between August
1720, Part 31 and completion of Vol. II, and 1723, the of year of Dr Hall´s
death, only 3 Parts were completed.
[xvii] John D Gordan III;
John Nutt: Trade Publisher and Printer “in the Savoy”; writing in The
Library, 7th series, vol. 15, no. 3 (September 2014). Published on-line.
[xviii] See the
informative entry in Wikipedia.
[xix] Henry R Plomer; A
Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers …; Bibliographical Society; OUP;
1922. Online.
[xx] See, for example,
University of Glasgow´s Published by women website.
[xxi] The references which follow are intended
to help future researchers. Library holdings must be treated with caution:
these works have not all been seen and the list is compiled from Hodson,
Carroll and online sources, especially the main library online catalogue JISC
Discover. Many entries have been excluded as they were thought to refer to one
common online source, only available to university students and staff. Many of
the entries included have never been listed together before. Many of the late
eighteenth-century copies will be in local libraries not listed on JISC.
[xxii] S123 lists British Library (BL), Royal Geographical Society (RGS), Bodleian
Library, Oxford (B). Hodson: Also reissued by same publishers in 4to format
with unfolded maps in private collection.
[xxiii] H125 (8vo) lists BL, Cambridge
University (C).
[xxiv] H126 (4to) lists B, C, National Library of Wales (NLW). Also
in private collection of Philip Burden.
[xxv] Octavo
issue: Previously in collection of Mr Tony Burgess and described in County
Maps of Kent. Another copy recorded at the Folger Shakespeare Library,
Washington, DC.
[xxvi] Quarto
issue: Mentioned by Hodson (126). Previously in collection of S A H
Burne and quoted in Imago Mundi (Volume 30, 1978) and published online
by Taylor & Francis (2008). Maps are believed to be unchanged.
[xxvii] H127 lists BL, C, Lancashire Record Office
(Allen collection), RGS: also at B.
[xxviii] This would be the serial numbers: no
unbound copy with an original cover wrap has been seen although Dominic Winter sold Part 1 at an auction which may show original sales form.
[xxix] H128 lists BL, B, C, University of
London, Libraries (ULL), NLS, Sheffield, Manchester City Library. Volume I
contains Devonshire. Volumes I and II have distinct reference to Atlas geographicus.
Also reported to be at RGS (Vols 1, 2, 5, 6), University of Birmingham, Society
of Antiquities, University of Wales Trinity St Davids, London Library,
Liverpool John Moores University, Northumbria University Library, University of
Surrey, 2 copies at Nottingham Univ. Lib., Vol. I only at Cardiff University
Libraries, Bangor University Library and University of Essex Library.
[xxx] H129 lists BL, CB, JR (actually has three
different variants) and also at Institute of Historical Research, NLS, B, Trinity
College Dublin, C (5 of 6 vols), Eton College.
Kommentare
Kommentar veröffentlichen