1687 LEA, Phillip
In 1687 an unusual
map of England and Wales was brought to the market by Philip Lea, possibly
influenced by the Quartermaster´s Map of Jenner. Philip Lea (d.1700), mapmaker,
globemaker, mapseller, bookseller, publisher and instrument maker, worked with
many leading cartographers including Morden and Moll. Although his business
career spanned only the last twenty years of the 1600s, he acquired a
reputation for supplying good quality maps; although these were often reworked
plates bought from others.
A
map which was executed for him by Sutton Nicholls was an unusual “strip” map.
This was a map of England and Wales printed in four strips with the intention
of being sold in a folded form. An advertisement in 1688 describes it as so
contrived to carry in the pocket without the inconveniency of folding and not
knowing how one part joins to another. Accordingly, the map has instructions
for assembly top right in a panel box above a compass. This reads: For the
Use of This Mapp Note / The First is the most Northerly / The Second is the
next Southward / The 3d. &c. / So that the Bottom of ye First Answears to
the Top of the second &c. / This is an Epittome of a larger mapp / Which
hath 3000 Names more than / Aney. The Quartermasters Map had been issued in
this form from the beginning and maps by Visscher were available in this form
about the same time published by John Overton.
Advertisements in two publications confirm the date of the first state as 1687.
Size: 405 mm x 505 mm. (NMM illustrated below).
Notwithstanding,
it was also sold as a sheet map, but retained these instructions. The panel top
right is a table: By This Table May be Found Any … Citty or Shire Town
&c. and contains latitude and longitude of each shire town and its
computed and measured distance from London. The roads are shown in double and single
lines with distances.
Sutton Nicholls was employed by
Overton in 1711-12 and engraved at least five maps for him, including one of
Devon (next entry). He was later employed by Robert Morden engraving maps
for Camden’s Britannia and one map
for the New Description.
In 1680 John Adams' Index Villaris:
or an alphabetical Table of
all the Cities, Market-Towns, Parishes, Villages, and Private Seats in England
and Wales was published by
A. Goodbid and
J. Playford. This gave a list of all localities in England and Wales together with their coordinates (Greenwich was Longitude zero). This was reprinted with elaborate additions in 1690 and again in 1700 and both included copies of the Lea map (see separate entry for the Index).
A New Map of England and Wales with the Direct And Cros Roads Also the number of Miles between the Townes on the Roads by inspection in figures. Sold by Phillip Lea Globemaker at the Atlas and Hercules in Cheap side near Fryday Street. Title in cartouche bottom left surmounted by royal arms and supported by two whales, surrounded by spears and standards. The map is signed Sutton Nicholl Sculpt it below the 32-point compass below centrally. There are other compasses and sailing ships around the seas. The table of explanation for using the map ajoins a table of the Shires. There is some attempt at hills and towns are shown with church-like symbols. Size: sheet = 500 mm x 510 mm; map = 479 mm x 506 mm. (1687). (BL).
The second state c1690 has Nicholl's name replaced by C. de Vick (BL, BPL illustrated below). Note the strange inclusion of small bits of French coast here.
This map is commonly found in Lea´s county atlases from 1689 (see 1689 Lea).
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