A fabulous ASSOCIATION COPY of the very rare ‘New Miniature Atlas’ by William Darton. The maps were originally published as a set of exceedingly rare card maps of the counties by Thomas Crabb. They were then issued by Robert Miller as the ‘New Miniature Atlas’ of 1821. The plates were then acquired by the great publishing house of William Darton [1755-1819], by now in the hands of his son also William [1781-1854]. They were issued as ‘Darton’s New Miniature Atlas’ undated although post-dating 1821. This date is referred to in the text of the Yorkshire map when citing the census of that year. It was most likely issued as a reduced compliment to the folio ‘Complete Atlas of the English Counties’ dated 1822.

These plates were famously issued later in the much better known atlas by Reuben Ramble (1810-75), whose name is a pseudonym for the Reverend Samuel Clark. He became a partner to William Darton, and in 1843 he would publish the famous ‘Reuben’s Rambles’ in which he surrounds the wide margins of the maps with a series of ornate vignettes. This example of the atlas includes the bookplate of the historian and descendent of Darton, Lawrence Darton. The Times published an Obituary of Lawrence Darton on 2 January 2009 in which they stated “Lawrence Darton was the great-great-great grandson of William Darton, a Quaker and engraver, who, in 1787, established a modest bookshop in the City of London. William also published prints and books, mostly intended for a youthful readership. In the course of time his son, also William, began an independent book selling enterprise and between them these two Dartons, and their immediate descendants, came to be numbered among the most prolific and influential children’s book publishers of the first half of the 19th century … Edward Lawrence Darton devoted much of his working life to tracing the ramifying publishing activities of his forebears.” His life’s work was finally published by the British Library in 2004. Although it would be nice to think that this atlas passed through the family it is known that much of his library he acquired during his own lifetime. Provenance: Ex Libris Lawrence Darton (1914-2008). Carroll (1996) 74.iv; Chubb (1927) 341; Tooley (1999-2004); Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).