A RARE EDITION. The copper plates for this work were first published as the ‘British Atlas’ by John Walker (1787-1873) and his brother Charles Walker (1799?-1872) in 1837. They inherited the engraving firm of their father, John Walker I (fl.1783-1831) who was chiefly known for his work with the Admiralty. From 1849 lithographic transfers were made in partnership with William Colling Hobson (fl.c.1832-d.c.1878) to create ‘Hobson’s Fox Hunting Atlas’, another atlas which was successful. Each county map is overprinted in blue with the local hunts, each with coloured border, and the meeting places identified by a small grey circle.

Whilst the ‘British Atlas’ contained 47 maps originally, those of Wales and the general map were not included in the ‘Fox-Hunting Atlas.’ None of the editions is dated and assessing this is based on the display of the railway network on the maps which is not an exact science. This is a rare edition entitled ‘Walker’s Fox-Hunting Atlas’, not Hobson’s. Hobson died c.1878 and no doubt the Walker firm having retained ownership of the plates decided to continue issuing a clearly successful work. Hodson assigned the date c.1886 to this example. Provenance: with manuscript ownership on the title page; Donald Hodson collection acquired 1972, (1933-2016), carto-bibliographer. Beresiner (1983) pp. 232-3; Carroll (1996) 105; refer Chubb 532; Hodson (1974) 103; Tooley’s Dictionary (1999-2004); Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).