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. This is the first edition of the work in its 12 Divisions. 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. Beresiner (1983) p. 117; Carroll (1996) 126; Chubb (1927) 562.