Third edition. The engraver and undertaker of the work is Joseph Johnson. It was first published in 1788 and only one example extant bears the series of maps. They are indeed not called for until this the third edition although the second edition of 1790 is considered the first illustrated. Editions with maps continued until 1809. The preface to the work is signed by John Aikin (1747-1822) who has the distinction of being named in Karl Marx’s ‘Das Kapital’, “What would the good Dr. Aikin say if he could rise from his grave and see the Manchester of today”. Provenance: manuscript ownership inscription on first front flyleaf ‘Margaret Coleridge 6th Sept 1924’; private English collection. Carroll (1996) 48; Chubb (1927) 287; Shirley (2004) T.Aik 1b.