George Louis Le Rouge was a military engineer who took up cartography from about 1740. This work is a French edition of ‘An Actual Survey … of the Principal Roads’ by John Senex first published in London, 1719. First published in 1759 the French plates appear to have passed into the hands of the publisher Louis Charles Desnos who like Le Rouge, offered them with dual language titles. Despite being appointed globe maker to the King of Denmark he spent most of his life in Paris. He had a particular penchant for road books producing several of France. As the title of this work states it is in fact three books bound as one each with title page. The first is a general map of England and Wales, the second bears the road strips, the third entitled ‘Recueil des Villes Ports D’Angleterre Tire des Grands Plans de Rocque et du Portuland de l’Angleterre du Sr. Belin’ is a fine work containing a series of town plans. The road strips are here updated with new additional notes in some cases. The introductory text leaves are rotated to enable viewing upright.

Provenance: French ownership inscription with stamp nearby ‘MC’ dated 1791 on the title page; Professor E. G. R. Taylor with her pencil signature front flyleaf (author of carto-bibliographies); Birkbeck College (bookplate stamped sold by order); Sotheby’s 1990; private English Collection; acquired by Clive A. Burden Ltd. 1996; Adrian Almond Collection; Dominic Winter Auctions 19 June 2013 lot 62; private English collection. Carroll (1996) Appendix no. 8; Chubb (1927) 143; Fordham (1924) p. 27 (not recognising them as a later edition of the Le Rouge); Phillips (1909-) 2918; Shirley (2004) T.Desn 3a.