Gibson Library Gazetteers contain text decriptions of places, in alphabetical order within 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 items listed below are solely for Britain, and for Essex.
| Return to the Catalogue page. | In the Shelving column, "Roll" means item is in the Rolling stacks in the Gibson Room of the Gibson Library, with row number, stack column letter and shelf number. "Tall" means item is on the Tall shelves in the Gibson Room; "Short" means item is on the relatively Short shelves in the Gibson Room. You will need to ask a member of staff to bring items from the Gibson Room. |
| Author(s) | 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, the worst ever drawn | 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 |