This attractive map is from the 'Britannia' which was intended as the third part of Richard Blome's grand atlas in four volumes announced in 1668. Lambasted by Bishop Nicolson in 1696 as 'a most entire piece of theft out of Camden and Speed' and by Richard Gough in 1780 as 'a most notorious piece of plagiarism'. Blome himself disclaimed originality claiming in the Preface 'I do not own myself the Author, but the Undertaker [i.e. publisher] of this work'. One should remember that this was the first edition of Camden's 'Britannia' to be issued with maps since the 1630s. Blome was one of the earliest to finance his works by subscription. A later edition of the work is known in 1677 which survives in just one example. This map of the whole of Yorkshire dated 1670 bears the arms of Charles Lord Fairfax upper right. Shirley BL T.Blom-2a; Rawnsley 18; Skelton 90.

Rogobert Bonne's map of the three main Indian Sea islands of Reunion, Mauritius and Rodrigues. At the bottom is a general map showing their relation to each other with detailed maps of each above. That or Bourbon features the volcano erupting.

From Rigobert Bonne's 'Atlas Moderne' first published in 1762 by Jean Lattre with maps from various cartographers. Bonne was an engineer, mathematician and cartographer. He succeeded Bellin as the hydrographer at the Depot de la Marine. Jean Lattre was the publisher of this edition, he may also have been this maps engraver. The map covers the famous French provinces of Champagne and Brie. Shirley BL T.Bonn 1a.

This map displays a collection of charts of bays & islands in the South Pacific. It was published in Bonne's 'Atlas Encyclopedique'. It includes nine recorded by Capt. James Cook on his first two circumnavigation's between 1768-1775. The islands included are clockwise from top left Isles de Wallis, Isle Turtle, Cocos Islands, Isle Sauvage, Isle de Hervey, Palmerston Is., Isle de Pasques or Easter Island, Pitcairn Island and lastly Dusky Bay and Resolution Island in New Zealand. Phillips, P.L. (Atlases) 288.

This map is engraved by Gaspard Andre for Bonne's "Atlas Encyclopedique". Cartographically it draws upon Captain James Cook's accounts. Upper left is a chart of the bay of D'Awatska on the Kamtschatka coast with a part of the islands of Japan to its right. The most important part though is lower right which is a fine chart of the waters arround Macao. The town is laid out simply. It was visited by Cook's ship during the third voyage although without Cook who had been killed in Hawaii earlier in 1779. At the time the vessel was under the command of Gore and King. Each chart depicts coastal topography along with soundings, shoals, channels and some navigational notes. The route of Cook's vessels is illustrated with a line. Phillips, P.L. (Atlases) 666.

'This map appears in an atlas of the islands of the world, or 'Isolario' as they were called. The first atlas, issued in c.1485 by Bartolommeo dalli Sonetti, was confined to the eastern Mediterranean. The second, containing this map, covered the whole world. The first edition was entitled 'Libro di Benedetto Bordone'. All of the three subsequent editions of this work carried the title of 'Isolario'.Appearing on the reverse of page VI, the map lacks detail. It is purported to have been of Greenland but recent arguments by Suárez point to it being of the North American continent. The name given to this land mass is 'Terra de lavoratore' after João Fernandes of the Azores, who arrived at Cape Farewell, Greenland, in 1500. 'Stretto pte del modo novo' depicts the area corresponding to the latitude of the Caribbean, the land mass shown below it being South America. This is derived from the world map at the beginning of the atlas. The fictitious islands of 'brasil' and 'asmaide' appear here as they did on many maps of this period. Although clearly representing America the geography of the coastline is however derived from the north-east Asian one, the two often being interrelated at this time' (Burden 8). It is on a full sheet of Italian text with a map of Scandinavia on verso. An analysis of the text setting identifies this as being from the 1547 edition. Burden 8; Ginsberg 7; Karrow pp. 89-93; Shirley 'Atlases in the BL' T.Bord 1a; Suarez p. 66.

FIRST EDITION. Benedetto Bordone's 'Libro' is designed like a traditional Isolario of the day, as a collection of maps of islands. This leaf contains a map of the Crimean peninsula and surrounding country of Russia and Ukraine. Armstrong in 'Imago Mundi' no. 48 pp. 65-92; Karrow pp. 89-93; Shirley 'Atlases in the BL' T.Bord 1a no. 23.

FIRST EDITION. Alexander Hogg (fl.1778-1809) began working for John Cooke who was a major publisher of serialised part works. In 1778, he started out on his own in competition. Adams stated, ‘a favourite pastime of both Cooke and Hogg was the invention of elegant aliases for the authorship of their topographical "sixpenny numbers� which must in fact have owed their existence to the attic labours of a consortium of sweated Grub Street hacks’. These writers compiled these works by plagiarising existing publications and offering them as weekly parts of 6d. The original title page stated that this work was ‘published under the inspection of Henry Boswell, Esq. F.A.R.S. Assisted by Robert Hamilton, L.L.D.’ Cooke publicly accused Hogg of fabrication when he announced in 'The World' 1-2 October 1788 that there was no Henry Boswell at the F.R.A.S. (Fellows of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies). Although Hogg defended other charges, he never denied this one.'The Antiquities of England and Wales' is effectively an abridgement of the six volumes published by Francis Grose. Hodson writes that Hogg had taken over the 'London Magazine' after the publication of the volume for January to June 1785. It was at this point that no doubt he also became the owner of the copper plates by Kitchen used in 1747-63 to illustrate a set of English and Welsh counties. The parts for Hogg's work were first advertised on the verso of the title to the third volume of the 'New London Magazine' for 1787 and published in January 1788. Ten numbers were available at the price of 6d. each. This would indicate initial publication of the weekly sometime in October 1787. The one hundred parts were completed early as the 'Glocester Journal' of 16 February 1789 announced that the completed work was available ‘elegantly bound in calf and lettered, price 3l.’ Of the 50 plates, 40 are of English counties, all but one were originally published in the 'London Magazine'. All references to the work are removed. Those of Yorkshire, North and South Wales, the Orkney’s etc. and Ulster were all previously published in Hogg’s 'New British Traveller' in 1784. Those of the remainder of Ireland and Scotland were engraved on 6 new plates. This example is bound such that the maps follow the descriptions and illustrations of the Antiquities. Each map is accompanied by a single leaf of descriptive text. Both the Index and Subscribers List are present which is not always the case. The Index to the plates in the work is broken down into the 100 parts issued. The list of names on the Subscribers List on inspection appears to be quite genuine. Provenance: manuscript ownership on front free endpaper 'Mary Yeeles 1792'; below is a further inscription of 'Gilbert Price, 5 Cleveland Pl. Bath; Hugh Fattorini collection with bookplate affixed inside upper board; Sotheby's 30 April 2015 lot 123; private English collection. Adams (1983) p. xv; Chubb (1927) 257; ESTC T122443; Hodson (1984-97) 281; Shirley (2004) G.Hogg 2a; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).

An early issue of the Boundary Commission report of 1885 before the inclusion of a plan of Salisbury which is replaced by a Memorandum slip stating that one 'is in preparation, and will be issued shortly'. The Commission reported on proposed boundary changes to the election of Members of Parliament. It was the third occasion in which an attempt was made to equalise the representation of the population across the United Kingdom in the Houses of Parliament. The first major reform was undertaken in the Reform Act of 1832. This was followed by another distribution during the Reform Acts of 1867 and 1868 which proved unsatisfactory. By 1885 the industrial growth of the country and the population movements this encouraged, had made the imbalance worse. This third Bill was the result of long and difficult negotiations between William Gladstone of the ruling Liberal Party and Lord Salisbury of the Conservative Party. It required the intervention of Queen Victoria to settle the course of action.The Reform Bill of 1885 was to draw upon the Ordnance Survey maps in order to determine the boundaries of divisions. The direct consequence of the Bill was the decline of the control of Parliament by the aristocracy. For the first time the number of MPs who represented industry and commerce outnumbered those connected with the landed gentry. The first volumes contains all of the English counties and four Welsh counties as called for. They are all bound in strict alphabetical order. Those of the West Riding are divided into three separate maps and those of Lancashire into four. Of the Boroughs, 15 relate to London. This report appears to be extremely rare, indeed this example is the last complete one we could find in auction having sold at Sotheby's on 6 December 1976. It is one of the most influential 'atlases' in British history. This example once belonged to Joseph F. B. Firth who wrote on the 'Reform of London Government and of the City Guilds' in 1888. Provenance: gilt ownership of 'Joseph F. B. Firth' on both covers; withdrawn stamp from Croydon Public Library with their blindstamp to margins of many maps; private English collection. Smith (1985) XIV.

Arguably the finest English county map of the eighteenth century from ' The Large English Atlas'. Thomas Kitchin was one of the most notable English cartographers of the eighteenth century. He was both an engraver and publisher of considerable reputation who was made Hydrographer to King George III. He worked with many of his contemporaries on various projects. This map of Cheshire is Hodson's state e, or 5 of 6, with the imprints of John and Carington Bowles and Robert Sayer. Hodson 221 pp. 97-147; Shirley 'Atlases in the BL' T-Bow 3a.