William Faden began by working for the firm of Thomas Jefferys, quite probably after the latter’s death in 1771. In 1783 he took control. He was an active publisher who pursued the same interest as his predecessor in fresh surveying. Many fine maps and charts were published by Faden. Norfolk did not have a published map to the scale of one inch to the mile. Andrew Armstrong had moved to the county and proposed one of Norfolk and of the neighbouring county of Cambridgeshire, however neither came to fruition. Faden had employed the services of Thomas Milne to survey Hampshire which was published in 1791. He invited him to work for him again, this time on Norfolk. Here he was joined by Thomas Donald who had worked with Jefferys on surveys of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cumberland and Yorkshire.

The project took five years to complete; the result of which was well engraved on six sheets. Although lacking the more decorative title cartouche familiar in the earlier part of the century it is more than made up for by the fine town plans of Kings Lynn, Swaffham and Great Yarmouth. The map as expected at this scale bears great detail with the names of owners of individual estates. Faden was proud enough of the map to apply to the Royal Society of Arts for an award but failed. He had already won awards for his maps of Sussex and Hampshire. This map first published in 1797 was twice updated in quick succession notably with an additional 19 line note to the right of the plan of Kings Lynn as here. A later fourth state was published. Chubb (1928) p. 78; Frostick Norfolk 61.3; Rodger (1972) no. 346.