John Senex 1719

150mm h x 215mm w

Senex 1719

An Actual Survey of all the Principal Roads of England and Wales

A straight copy of Ogilby's 100 plates, but with only a dot per mile marker (instead of a dot every furlong as shown by Ogilby and Gardner). This is the same map as shown for Ogilby, this time with a "92" in the bottom right corner (as in the 1675 et seq editions of Ogilby). The maps are printed on one side only. The roads, houses and towns look the same as on Ogilby, but there are fewer symbols for hills and woods.

There were four editions of his book in 1719 (with slightly varying titles), and then a "Second Edition" in 1742 issued by his wife Mary (shown as M Senex) with maps printed double sided and plate numbers both left and right at the top. She also issued a "Third Edition" in 1743 and a "Fourth Edition" in 1748.

John Bowles republished the work in 1757 (printed double sided, with numbers top left and right) with some changes to the plate numbering and with added notes. Further editions of this version were issued in 1762, 1768, 1780 and 1792. The Senex maps were also copied for St George's French edition in 1759, for Kitchin's Post-Chaise Companion in 1767 and Jefferys Itinerary in 1775; and possibly also some 39 of them in The Universal Magazine in 1765 to 1773.

Scale of about 7 miles = 80mm, ie about 2.22 miles to an inch (instead of Ogilby's 1 mile to an inch), or 1:140,000.

© Peter Walker 2013 - 2017