‘The New Description and State of England’ was first published in 1701. Following the death of Robert Morden in August 1703 there would have been a distribution of shareholding. Unfortunately no record survives of these transactions. We can see from the new list of publishers on the title page that Thomas Cockerill also disposed of his shares, Ralph Smith retained his ownership and may well have expanded it. This edition was first advertised in the ‘Term Catalogues’ for Hilary in 1703/4 indicating a publication early in the year. Smith alone advertised the work in the ‘Daily Courant’ 9 March 1703/4 but no example with his imprint has been recorded unlike the quarto issue following. The title is entirely reset including now a reference to Robert Morden. The body of text however is a reissue of left over sheets from the 1701 printing complete with pagination errors. In this example however pp. 129-136 and 113-128 are bound in order of pagination which although the text is not disrupted places the counties out of alphabetical order. Hodson is incorrect in stating there are no alterations apart from the title page. The ‘List’ of notable people bound at the end is entirely renewed and expanded by a further fifty-one pages. Provenance: Modern bookplate of Sir Robert George Alexander Balchin, Baron Lingfield (1942-). Sotheby’s London 16 November 2006 lot 109. References: Chubb 125; ESTC T225736; Hodson 125; Shirley ‘Atlases in the British Library’ T.Mord 4b.