Very little is known about either George Cole or John Roper. The latter appears to have engraved the plates to the atlas from the drawings of Cole. Two however were not engraved by him, Cheshire and Caernarvonshire. The original publishers were the established firm of Vernor, Hood and Sharpe who began publishing the ‘British Atlas’ in parts from October 1804. The maps were produced to accompany Britton and Brayley’s ‘Beauties of England and Wales’ issued from 1801, a statement to which effect is found on most of the maps. Its announcement appears in part 32 in May 1804. The maps were reduced from ‘original surveys … published by Mr. Faden whose permission was exclusively granted …’ In 1810 the whole was issued as the ‘British Atlas’ which is generally referred to as Cole and Roper’s atlas. The Reverend Joseph Nightingale (1775-1824) published his ‘English Topography’ in 1816 which utilised the same plates. A prolific writer and preacher he was particularly noted for his topographical works. There are two different publisher’s imprints found and each is found both with and without plate numbers, this example is with. Provenance: bookplate of Edward Burrard Boyle (1844-1907) pasted inside upper cover; Alex Jackson collection; Clive A. Burden Ltd. January 1997; private collection. Beresiner pp. 88-90; Carroll no. 62; Chubb 353.