Thomas Jefferys (1719-71) was arguably the most important English cartographer during the eighteenth century. A publisher, engraver, author, and geographer, he was appointed Geographer to Frederick Prince of Wales in 1748, and later to King George III. It was during the Seven Years’ War that Jefferys made a name for himself as an authority on North American cartography. His other great contribution was in English County cartography being involved with a number of county atlases. But it was his large scale maps of the counties that extended his finances too far. His map of Devonshire in 1765 won the first ever prize of £100 offered by the Royal Society of Arts. By 1766 he was forced into bankruptcy. To survive Jefferys entered into partnerships, the most important of which was with the London map and printseller Robert Sayer (1725?-94).

This large scale map of Bedfordshire was published at that critical period of his life and it appears that he needed the assistance of Andrew Dury (fl.1754-77) to publish it. The original survey was undertaken by John Ainslie (1745-1828) and Thomas Donald (fl.1750-c.97). Ainslie was a noted surveyor, mapmaker, engraver and publisher. According to Tooley’s Dictionary this is his earliest work produced when just 20 years old. He is most famous for his Scottish material. It was also the earliest printed work for the surveyor Donald who was less prolific. The final published map is one of only a dozen pre-1800 large-scale maps to be drawn at the scale of two inches to the mile. Two scales are provided; one for the statute mile and another for ‘Geographical Miles 60 to a Degree’. A statement informs that for the survey ‘the great angles were taken by the Theodolite, & the Roads were measured by the Chain & Transcribed on the Plain Table in the Field’. The Explanation on the left includes the usual features and in such detail that the roads are marked as to whether it is open on one side or the other. The map is dedicated lower left to John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (1710-71), a powerful politician who negotiated the Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years War and the French and Indian War in 1763. A large plan of the city of Bedford is top right. The whole is completed by a large ornate title featuring a raod scene in which a rider is indicating to pedestrians the title displayed nearby. Rodger (1972) no. 2; Tooley ‘The Map Collector’ no. 5, Bd5; Tooley’s (1999-2004); Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).