Staffordshire Maps

37x43 cm

STAFFORD | SHIRE | by Robt. Morden.
Sold by { Abel Swale Awnsham & Iohn Churchil
Sutton Nicholls sculp
Copper engraving produced by Robert Morden (fl.1669-1703) for publication in Edmund Gibson's translation of William Camden's Britannia first published by Abel Swalle and Awnsham & John Churchill in 1695. Sutton Nichols and John Sturt have signed some of the maps as engravers but other engravers were also probably employed. This is the first series of maps to mark longitude in minutes of time (top border) as well as in degrees (bottom border). For most counties longitude is based on the meridian of St. Paul's, London. They were the first folio sized series of county maps to show roads, Morden using the survey and strip road maps of John Ogilby (published in his road book, also entitled Britannia, in 1675). Morden's miniature maps produced on a set of playing cards in 1676, shortly after Ogilby’s production, were the first complete set of county maps to include roads. Morden did not use Ogilby's standardisation of measure for the mile at 1760 yards and used the somewhat arbitrary approximation of local variations to include three scales, 'Great', 'Middle' and 'Small' miles on his maps.
Staffordshire is one of five maps signed by Sutton Nicholls (1668-1729), engraver, printseller, draughtsman and globemaker working from Cheapside, Aldersgate and other addresses in London from 1692 until his death in 1729. 
Britannia containing Morden's maps was re-published in 1722, 1730, 1753 and, finally in 1772. 
There were a number of minor alterations to most plates during the early editions and they were substantially updated for the 1722 edition mostly with changes to place name spellings. Due to wear caused by the printing process the plates were reworked for the 1753 edition.
A very good example of the Staffordshire map from the 1695 edition in neat later hand colour.