Gazetteers

Gazetteers contain text descriptions of places, in alphabetical order within a county or for the country as a whole. They vary enormously in size, and hence in length of articles. They also usually contain county maps, sometimes using ones commissioned for them, but usually ones created for other publications (such as atlases), often from some years earlier.

The text descriptions are also a mixture of original writing and plagiarised – sometimes simply duplicated text with a new title and frontispiece. The Gibson Library collection of gazetteers contains excellent examples of both sorts, for example the two below by Alexander Hogg having different Titles and Introductions, but are otherwise identical.

Author	Title	Publisher	Date	Notes	Reference	Shelving
John Norden	Speculi Britanniae Pars	Camden Society	1594 (1840)	Norden’s manuscript map of Essex, plus his Survey (ie description). 2 copies	C183 and 942.67	Roll 30A2
William Camden, trans Edmund Gibson	Camden’s Britannia: or a Chorographical Description of Great Britain and Ireland (1 vol)	Swall and Churchill	1695	Morden’s larger county maps; 24pp text on Essex, but lacks its map	C1475	Tall E4
Morden & Cox	Magna Britannia et Hibernia, Volumes 1 to 6	M Nutt	1720	Map of each County in E&W (lacks Essex), plus triangular distance tables	C1067	Roll 8C1
[Morden & Cox]	[Magna Britannia et Hibernia] Essex	M Nutt	1720	Morden’s smaller map of Essex	C185	Roll 30A1
William Camden, trans Edmund Gibson	Camden’s Britannia: or a Chorographical Description of Great Britain and Ireland, 3rd ed (2 vols)	Ware et al	1753	Longer text, but same Morden’s larger county maps (from 1695)	C1476	Tall E3
Nathaniel Spencer	The Complete English Traveller – 2 copies	J Cooke	1771	New and Accurate Map of England; An Accurate Map of Great Britain	C1503.a & AAM 55a	Roll 8D7 & 14C5
William Camden, trans Edmund Gibson	Camden’s Britannia: or a Chorographical Description of Great Britain and Ireland, 4th ed (2 vols)	Ware et al	1772	Longer text, but same Morden’s larger county maps (from 1695). Essex missing	C1482	Tall E5
Nathaniel Spencer	The Complete English Traveller	J Cooke	1772	A large gazetteer (in poor condition) but very inferior to the same publisher’s item C1500 below.	C1503	Short A3
British Topography	Richard Gough	Payne & Son	1780	Very large gazetteer, with copies of historic UK maps, such as Peutinger, Matthew Paris & the “Gough” map	C1378	Roll 8C6
Burlington, Rees & Murray	The Universal British Traveller	J Cooke	1782	A very large gazetteer (in good condition) and far better than the same publisher’s item C1503 above	C1500	Short A3
The New British Traveller	George Augustus Walpoole	Alexander Hogg	1784	Map of England & Wales, plus county maps (Essex missing). Identical to item C1502 below, apart from the Introduction	C1501	Tall D5
The Antiquities of England & Wales (in 6 volumes)	Francis Grosse	S Hooper	1787	Small county maps using Seller’s maps of 90 years earlier; Essex in Vol 5, C1365	C1361 to C1366	Roll 8C7
The New and Complete English Traveller	William Hugh Dalton	Alexander Hogg	1794	Map of England & Wales, plus county maps (Essex missing). Identical to item C1501 above, apart from the Introduction	C1502	Tall D5
William Camden, trans Richard Gough	Britannia: or a Chorographical Description of the flourishing Kingdoms (in 4 volumes)	John Stockdale	1806	Cary’s Britannia maps 1st issued with 1st ed of 4 vol version in 1789; Essex is in vol 2, C1479	C1478 to C1481	Tall E4
Benjamin Pitts Capper	A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom (2 copies)	Richard Philips	1808	Maps of the counties, plus map of GB & Ireland. Also called Capper’s Atlas – but it is a Gazetteer, not an “atlas”.	D23 & AAM 91	Roll 9B1 & 14D1
William Cobbett	A geographical Dictionary of England and Wales	W Cobbett	1832	Maps of counties	D18f	Roll 9B1
Thos Wright	The History and Topography of The County of Essex, in 2 Volumes	Virtue	1831	They all contain Bingley’s map of Essex (c1834), but the 2nd one also has pasted in Kitchin’s London Magazine map of Essex (1748), Seller’s (ie Grosse’s) map of Essex 1787 (1694) and Dugdale’s (ie Cole & Roper’s) map of Essex 1835	C192, C192a & 942.67	Roll 29D5 & 30A2 (3rd)
Samuel Lewis	A Topographical Dictionary of England, 2nd ed (10 volumes)	S Lewis & Co	1833	Lewis’s map of England & Wales 1833, plus Bradshaw’s map of England & Wales 1846 – that has a lot more railways on it. (Also many other inserts by a former owner.) County maps immediately pre-1832 Reform Act (Essex in Vol 3, C1428)	C1426 to C1435	Roll 9B7
Thomas Dugdale	Curiosities of Great Britain: England & Wales Delineated (2 volumes) – 2 copies	Tallis & Co	1835	Map of each County using Cole & Roper 1810 maps	C1065 & C1161	Roll 8C1 & 8C4
Archibald Fullarton	The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales (12 volumes)	A Fullarton	1840	County maps – Essex in Vol 4	C1410	Roll 8C6
Archibald Fullarton	The Parliamentary Gazetteer (4 volumes) – 2 copies	A Fullarton	1844	Map of each County in E&W – Essex vol 2	C1410	Roll 8D1
John Marius Wilson	The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales	A Fullarton	1870	Maps of cities, islands & estuaries; Thames estuary in vol 3	C1414	Roll 8D1
Alfred Taylor	Pictorial Britain	McCann Co for Esso	1933	Pictorial plans of regions	C1150	Roll 8C7