T. Laurie Murray was a surveyor, publisher and founder member of the Royal Geographical Society. His major cartographic work was the English county atlas entitled ‘An Atlas of the English Counties’ first published in 1830, a copy of which can be found in this catalogue. It contained forty-four maps engraved by Hoare and Reeves and identifying Murray as publisher. A second edition the following year involved the imprint dates being altered to each plate. The further history of the plates is murky, particularly after they left Murray’s possession. William Robson is not even listed in the revised edition of ‘Tooley’s Dictionary of Mapmakers’. Some of the county bibliographies refer to him issuing later states of the respective county maps and one complete collection of the maps in this state exists in a private English collection. Robson issued commercial directories from 1819 to about 1842 and it appears also issued the Murray maps separately. In about 1838 he expanded into producing county directories. This was a fiercely competitive arena and one in which it appears he suffered against the more professional and thorough opposition. Hodson in his study of Hertfordshire identifies a work in the Guildhall Library entitled ‘Robson’s Commercial Directory of … with a beautifully engraved map of each of the seven counties … for 1839’. The make up of this item appears to be similar. No other example of it could be located online. The counties present are Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. Beresiner pp. 164-5; Hodson ‘Hertfordshire’ no. 90.