THE FIRST ROAD BOOK OF IRELAND. The first road strip maps of England and Wales were published by John Ogilby in his landmark ‘Britannia’ in 1675. A similar work on Scotland did not appear until 1776, it was published by George Taylor (fl. 1772-1807) and Andrew Skinner. Despite financial troubles with the Scottish work, two years later they were able to publish this, the first road atlas of Ireland.

All but 24 of the maps are identified as being engraved by ‘Terry’. Garnet Terry’s (1746?-1817) earliest work appears to have been around 1775. He also produced some of the plates for Taylor and Skinner’s ‘Roads of North Britain’ in 1776. Clearly impressed with his work, he appears to have engraved the whole of this atlas. He was prolific too, as Bonar Law points out, the dates that appear range from 29 July 1778 on the first map to 2 November 1778 towards the end. A serious rate of production. He went on to print the £1 and £2 notes for the Bank of England for whom he worked from 1795 to 1810.

Most of the maps are in two strips, although some are full page. Upwards of 8000 miles of roads were surveyed by the authors in 1777. The maps feature topographical detail and the nearby estates including the names of their owners. The title page vignette records the Battle of the Boyne, 1690. It is dedicated to Edmond Sexton Pery, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons from 1771 to 1785. As with Ogilby’s work, it records the ‘Direct’ roads leading from Dublin and the Cross Roads between other locations. Distances are recorded in Irish and British miles. A second edition was published in 1783 with one further plate numbered 289. Provenance: private English collection. Andrews, J. H. (1967) Facsimile of the 1783 edition; Bonar Law (1997) A30; Chubb (1927) Ireland XI; Shirley (2004) T.Tayl 3a; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).