To complete the work Stockdale is understood to have sought the services of Sir William Betham (c.1779-1853). The evidence to support this comes from his obituary published in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ in 1853. The work was issued in what appears to have been monthly parts, the first being issued on 27 February 1806. The four completed volumes were to be priced at four guineas or six guineas on superior paper with the maps coloured. The date of issue of the final part is unknown but a clue may be found in the earlier mentioned obituary piece on Betham, where a note states that ‘the completed work was published in 1807 by Mr. John Stockdale’. The date 1806 is found on each of the four title pages, however the printers imprint varies. The first two volumes were undertaken by J Nichols and Son. The third was printed by T. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street and the fourth by S. Gosnell, Little Queen Street. The printer Nichols suffered a destructive fire on 8 February 1808 at his premises which is presumably unrelated. Gough’s name is credited in all four volumes, no doubt due to his reputation but presumably without his approval. Most of the maps now bear the imprint of Stockdale below the title and the date 1805. Provenance: Clive A. Burden Ltd. Carroll (1996) no. 49; Chubb (1927) 272; Fordham (1925a) pp. 31; Gentleman’s Magazine May 1814 p. 480; Nichols, J (1812-15) ‘Literary anecdotes of the eighteenth-century’, volume 8 p. 482.