‘The National Gazetteer’ was first issued in parts from 1863-68. The prospectus stated that the work would be completed in about 35 parts of 80 pages each, or in 12 Divisions at 7s. 6d. each. The first edition of the work is found in its 12 Divisions. It was advertised as being offered in 3 volumes also, this being an edition from 1875. The first page of the Appendix refers to data being drawn from the Poor Law Returns of 1875. The state of the maps correspond with the 1868 issue. William Nightingale Hughes (1817-76) worked as a cataloguer at the British Museum on geography books from 1841-43. From 1863-75 he was a Professor of Geography at King’s College, London. The founder of the publishing firm was George Virtue (c.1793-1868) whose company records show Hughes as a supplier of plates. The maps here are attractive and of individual counties with the exception of Scotland where they are grouped together in regions. Provenance: Bearnes, Hampton & Littlewood auction 18 March 2020 lot 475. Beresiner (1983) p. 117; Carroll (1996) 126; refer Chubb (1927) 562.