This is the first of three large scale county surveys published by the partners John Andrews (fl.1766-98) and Andrew Dury (fl.1742-78). The other counties were Kent in 1769 and Wiltshire in 1773. This map of Hertfordshire in nine sheets was the first of the county to show parishes and was first published in 1766 by Andrew Dury. All three were undertaken at the very large scale of two inches to the mile, only a handful were published with this much detail in the eighteenth century. Indeed this map of Hertfordshire is the first of the county to be done at the scale of ONE inch to the mile or larger. The majority of large scale maps were drawn at one inch to the mile. The large scale however affords a much greater level of detail with even the smallest of side roads being displayed. The definition of the towns and villages is also much improved. The detail goes down to water-mills and kitchen gardens! A note on the map relates that the western part of the county was surveyed by John Andrews and the eastern part Andrew Dury. Dury it appears was also the publisher and a London bookseller who priced the map at £1.16s in sheet form. He was originally, it is believed, the manager of John Rocque’s shop. The engraver is unidentified but a John Cheevers was working with Dury at about the same time. There is a very attractive dedication cartouche upper left with riverside scene in front of a country house. In the same year Dury also published two town plans of Hertford and St. Albans with Matthew Wren. They provide superb scale of the town and are beautifully engraved. They are rarely found with the large scale map. Provenance: private English collection. Hodson (1974) 44.i & 45.i; Rodger (1972) 495; Tooley, R. ‘Map Collector’ 58 pp. 31-37 Ht19; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011) pp. 9-20, 209-10.