A rare later state of Robert Morden’s playing cards first published in 1676. For each county Morden displayed below the map, its Length, Breadth and Circumference in Old English miles. Below that he gives the chief city or town and its distance from London first in reputed and then measured miles according to John Ogilby. Lastly, he states their latitude. Each map bears the roads featured by Ogilby in his ‘Britannia’ of 1675 ‘with his leave’, the main ones double lined and minor ones identified by one. Each bears a compass for bearing. In most cases, they are the first printed maps of the county to include roads, included within only six months of Ogilby’s publication.

This map of Surrey is from ‘A Brief Description of England and Wales’ by Homan Turpin. The whereabouts of the plates since Morden last issued them is unknown, but they eventually came into Turpin’s possession. He was a bookseller working at 104 St. John’s Street, West Smithfield, London, from 1764 to 1787 who interestingly traded in second-hand books and buying libraries. The date of their issue is speculative, as none of the six known Turpin catalogues list the cards it has been presumed to have been issued late in his career. He largely supplied works to schools and it would seem logical to suspect the same applied to this little atlas. There are no suit marks present although the numeration in Roman and Arabic may still be found as this was part of the engraved plate. Arber (1903-06) I. 263; Chubb (1927) 109; ESTC T204060; Hodson (1984-97) 273; Mann & Kingsley (1972) p. 26, 3.3; Shirley (2004) T. Mord 1c.