A little gem of an 18th-century English atlas, being the 1761 edition of Dury's New General and Universal Atlas.
Rumsey (3004) says that the map of Canada is double-page in the 1763 edition but not in the 1761. The 1763 having been changed to reflect the conclusion of the French and Indian War and the Treaty of that year. Perhaps this is an intermediate edition between the 1761 examined by Rumsey and the 1763 that is his number 3004.
Includes an engraved dedication to William Petty Earl and Baron of Shelburn.
"Sea of Corea" is labeled on the general map of Asia.
Provenance
18th-century engraved bookplate of Lady Cunynghame;
In 1772, the Scottish poet Thomas Blacklock published a “A Poem occasioned by the Death of Lady Cunynghame of Livingstone.”, described by contemporary sources as "the beautiful woman mourned in this carefully composed elegy was well-known in her day as one of 'The Three Graces.' "
19th-century bookplate of J.W.H. Brydges
List of maps:
1, 2. The World
3. Europe
4. Asia
5. East Indies
6. Africa
7. Map of Senegal, with part of the coast of Africa
8. North America
9. South America
10, 11. Canada
12. Map of the West India Islands
13. Great Britain & Ireland
14, 15, 16, 17. England
18. Scotland (mis-numbered as 19)
19. Ireland
20. Spain and Portugal
21. Portugal
22. France in general
23, 24, 25, 26. France
27. Flanders and the Low Countries
28. Switzerland divided into Cantonments
29. Italy
30. Empire of Germany
31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. The Empire of Germany
37. Kingdom of Hungary
38. Poland
39. Kingdom of Prussia
40. The United Provinces
41. Denmark
42. Sweden & Norway
43. Russia in Europe
44. Russia in Asia
45. Turkey in Europe
Thomas Kitchin was a British cartographer and engraver. Born in Southwark, England, Kitchin was the eldest of several children. He was apprenticed to the map engraver Emanuel Bowen from 1732 to 1739, and he married Bowen’s daughter, Sarah, in December 1739. By 1741 Kitchin was working independently and in 1746 he began taking on apprentices at his firm. His son Thomas Bowen Kitchin was apprenticed to him starting in 1754. By 1755 Kitchin was established in Holborn Hill, where his firm produced all kinds of engraved materials, including portraits and caricatures. He married his second wife, Jane, in 1762. Beginning in 1773 Kitchin was referred to as Hydrographer to the King, a position his son also later held. He retired to St. Albans and continued making maps until the end of his life.
A prolific engraver known for his technical facility, clean lettering, and impressive etched decorations, Kitchin produced several important works throughout his career. He produced John Elphinstone’s map of Scotland in 1746, and the first pocket atlas of Scotland, Geographia Scotiae, in 1748/1749. He co-published The Small English Atlas in 1749 with another of Bowen’s apprentices, Thomas Jefferys. He produced The Large English Atlas serially with Emanuel Bowen from 1749 to 1760. The latter was the most important county atlas since the Elizabethan era, and the first real attempt to cover the whole country at a large scale. In 1755 Kitchin engraved the important John Mitchell map of North America, which was used at the peace treaties of Paris and Versailles. In 1770 he produced the twelve-sheet road map England and Wales and in 1769–70 he produced Bernhard Ratzer’s plans of New York. In 1783, he published The Traveller’s Guide through England and Wales.
Andrew Dury (fl. 1766-1777?) was a British map and print publisher who operated out of Duke's Court on St. Martin's Lane in London. He was an accomplished mapmaker but substantially less successful than contemporaries such as Thomas Jefferys or William Faden, and his maps are relatively quite rare. Dury's name is most commonly associated with Rennell's large Indian maps. Dury was also responsible for Revolutionary War era plans of Boston and Philadelphia, as well as a series of maps related to the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-74.