ONE OF ONLY TWO KNOWN EXAMPLES. The plates for this VERY RARE atlas are by Joshua Archer (1792?-1863) and were first published in William Pinnock’s ‘Guide to Knowledge’, 1833. What is unusual about them for this period is that they were produced using woodblocks. The maps were the work of Joshua Archer (1792?-1863) and Selena Hall (fl.1831-53, the widow of the engraver Sidney Hall). Archer was declared bankrupt shortly after in 1835 and was in prison for debt again in 1845. Here the process used by Thomas Johnson for the ‘Atlas of England’, published in Manchester in 1847, is a lithographic transfer. A Thomas Johnson is recorded as being a bookseller, stationer, bookbinder, printer and publisher in Liverpool between 1833-43. This is possibly the same Johnson as our publisher after a move to Manchester. Lithography preserves the original block or plate from excessive wear and allows an extended life. For this atlas the existence of some of the early railways is recorded.

This is an example of the one further edition which appeared in 1863. It survives in just one other known example. The same lithographic title is used although the date is applied typographically. One item omitted in this edition is the contents leaf, it is not present in either example. Provenance: Tennants 13 August 2016 lot 249. Carroll (1996) no. 98; Chubb (1927) no. 523; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).