George Frederick Cruchley (1797-1880) had learned his trade with Aaron Arrowsmith and began to work for himself in 1823. His early days were concentrated on publishing maps of London but following the death of John Cary in 1835, he acquired much of the stock from the surviving heirs. Cruchley made lithographic transfers from the plates until he sold them all in 1877. Cruchley’s main marketing tool was to add to the original plates, details of the railways, postal, telegraph and other useful information. These plates were originally published by Cary as the ‘New and Correct English Atlas’, 1809. Although quite probably acquired at an earlier date, Cruchley does not appear to have made use of them until 1863 when he published the ‘County Atlas of England & Wales’. There were further undated editions from c.1864. This is dated to c.1868 on internal evidence of the railways. A final one is dated 1875. All issues are rare. Provenance: with ownership inscription on index leaf of Alfred George Renshaw; Lord Wardington (1924-2005) Library with his bookplate inside back cover; Sotheby’s auction 18 October 2005 lot 121; private English collection. Beresiner (1983) pp. 93-5; not in Chubb (1927); Nicholson (2003); Smith (1989b).