This survey of Essex by John Chapman and Peter André is one of the finest large scale maps published of any county. At a scale of two inches to the mile only achieved by a dozen eighteenth century county surveys it contains a remarkable amount of detail. Even when compared to today’s technology its accuracy is quite remarkable. Apart from the towns each individual building is displayed and each manor and farm house is named including the owner or occupant. Virtually every minor road is included with all the bridges, milestones and turnpikes displayed. Along the coastline every small creek, wharf, quay, ferry, cliff and even duck-decoy is depicted! One of the double page plates is devoted entirely to a beautifully engraved title set in a fulling mill with two cloth beaters and Harwich in the background, another lists the 240 subscribers. The plan of Colchester takes up again virtually an entire plate whilst elsewhere is a smaller one of Harwich. That of Colchester is at the remarkable scale of about 170 yards to the inch. This is a fine example of the second edition published by W. Keymer in 1785. A truly remarkable survey. Provenance: private English collection since 2006. Rodger (1972) 121; Tooley E3 in ‘The Map Collector’ no. 36 p. 36.