John Cary (c.1754-1835) and descendants were possibly the most prolific publishers of cartography around the turn of the eighteenth century. This is the first of three significant English County productions. Cary is noted for the clarity of detail in his maps and was the first to use the Greenwich meridian. This example of Cary’s ‘New and Correct English Atlas’ is from the second edition of 1793. It was however continuously available and only reflects a move to new premises. An innovative feature he introduced was to place a letter at the exit point of a road from the county. This letter would correspond to that found on that of the neighbouring county. This was an early form of numbering the roads.

This edition of the atlas was on sale until 1809. This is an early issue as determined by Hodson based on the presence of the earlier state of maps of Leicestershire, Middlesex and Oxfordshire, all dated 1 May 1792. This is likely when the revisions clearly commenced. They would later be revised to those of the others, namely 1 January 1793. Similarly, it bears the dedication to Viscount Weymouth (d. 1796) not present in later examples. Provenance: bookplate of Robert John Verney, Lord Willoughby de Broke (1809–1862) pasted inside front cover; pencil inscription on front free endpaper of ‘A. B. Sackett Merton 1921’; private English collection. Chubb (1927) 261; Fordham (1925a) p. 23; Hodson (1984-97) 286; Shirley (2004) T.Cary 2c; Smith (1988) ‘The Map Collector’ 43 pp. 40-47.