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Mr. Philip D. Burden
P.O. Box 863,
Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks HP6 9HD,
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0) 1494 76 33 13
Email: enquiries@caburden.com
Sidney Hall (1788?-1831) began his career as an engraver for the Arrowsmith family. Hall was a prolific engraver of the period and according to Worms and Baynton-Williams ‘was almost certainly the first engraver to use the new harder steel plates for map work, using plates manufactured by the Jacob Perkins process as early as 1821’. His first county maps were those published by Samuel Leigh in 1820 in ‘Leigh’s New Picture of England and Wales’, a miniature county atlas which proved a success.
This series of maps was engraved for John Gorton’s ‘Topographical Dictionary’ issued in parts from 1831-32 and published by Chapman and Hall. There is no known familial link between the two Hall’s. We cannot conclude for sure that Sidney Hall engraved all of the plates, as his will was proved 26 March 1831. The dates on the maps vary between 1830 and 1832. His widow Selina Hall was also an engraver and as she signed hers ‘S. Hall’, it is difficult to tell. The maps are bound alphabetically with those of Yorkshire, Ireland, Scotland and Wales consisting of two plates. A further general map of ‘Inland Navigation’ is bound alphabetically. Population statistics are given from the Census for 1831. Provenance: Sir Willm. Bowyer Smyth, Bart. (1814-83), English cricketer and MP; Sotheby’s sale of Shadwell Park, Thetford, Norfolk, 22 October 1992; private English collection. Burden (2001); Carroll (1996) 94; Chubb (1927) 451; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).
This series of maps was engraved for John Gorton’s ‘Topographical Dictionary’ issued in parts from 1831-32 and published by Chapman and Hall. There is no known familial link between the two Hall’s. We cannot conclude for sure that Sidney Hall engraved all of the plates, as his will was proved 26 March 1831. The dates on the maps vary between 1830 and 1832. His widow Selina Hall was also an engraver and as she signed hers ‘S. Hall’, it is difficult to tell. The maps are bound alphabetically with those of Yorkshire, Ireland, Scotland and Wales consisting of two plates. A further general map of ‘Inland Navigation’ is bound alphabetically. Population statistics are given from the Census for 1831. Provenance: Sir Willm. Bowyer Smyth, Bart. (1814-83), English cricketer and MP; Sotheby’s sale of Shadwell Park, Thetford, Norfolk, 22 October 1992; private English collection. Burden (2001); Carroll (1996) 94; Chubb (1927) 451; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).
GORTON, John
A Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland, compiled from Local Information, and the Most Recent and Official Authorities
Chapman & Hall, 186, Strand, London, 1833
Octavo, three volumes (215 x 135 mm. each), contemporary half calf, marbled paper boards, blind ruled, spine with raised bands each gilt ruled, ornate blind diced compartment, gilt calf title and volume labels to each, upper board and spine detached from volume 3. With typographic half title and title to each volume, Preface, Population Return, List of Maps, pp. xx, (2), 110, (4), 760; (4), 876; (4), 875, (3), 20, 45, (1), 88, with 54 double page maps by Sidney Hall, some with light print offset, some minor offsetting, otherwise a good example.
Stock number: 10280
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