This map was first published by John Adair in Edinburgh and engraved by James Moxon whilst he was in Scotland assisting Adair in his survey of the country. Only the one example of the first state can be traced, in the British Library. A later state with the altered title above is almost certainly that advertised in the “Post-Boy” for December 1709. The description is consistent with the Adair map. It was placed by the publishers William Warters and his apprentice (1699–1706), son-in-law (1706), and successor (1711), John Lenthall, who were offering it as a set of playing cards. The map was dissected into 48 cards and sold with a further 4 descriptive aces. These describe the rules and list of counties of England and Wales. Lenthall who would become notable for cartographic playing cards was an enthusiastic advertiser notably in the autumn and winter months being aimed at the ‘winter evening amusements’ (London Courant). Lenthall died or retired from the business in 1734, so these represent one of his earliest sets of cards. After extensive research only three examples can be located of the playing card edition: Christies South Kensington 20 May 2003 lot 1141 (complete set, 48+4); Private American Collection (45 cards + 4 description); and this example. We sold have had two of these, and underbid the third.

The story of the building of this collection is quite remarkable. All but one card is from the original set. These at some point had been split and were re-united by us over a period of several years. Two separate acquisitions from Stanley Gibbons and Sotheby’s provided twenty-four cards which were sold to the collector of playing cards and author Sylvia Mann. In a separate acquisition she acquired one further card in early colour. Upon her death they were sold to the great collection Harry Kenter. Upon his death they appeared at a Zisska and Kistner auction in Germany on 25 October 1995 as lot 3839. They were acquired by Clive A. Burden Ltd. A further group of 12 cards appeared on the market in south east England and were duly acquired more recently. The fact that none of the cards in either group of 24 or 12 were duplicates gives an extremely high probability of them being from the same original set!

IPCS Journal Vol. X, pp. 95. Shirley Britain Adair 1 st. 2, Mann & Kingsley pp. 20-21. Hodson I pp. 71-6.