Publisher: Samuel Lewis

Introduction

Lewis published his Topographical Dictionary of England from 1831 to around 1849; he also had parallel Topographical Dictionaries of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The England county maps actually consist of two types - a conventional topographical map, and a (slightly larger) map of Parliamentary Divisions and Polling Places with a similarly sized map of Parliamentary boroughs, that was only included in the second and third third editions of the Dictionary (1833 & 1835). The former do show the early growth of the railways, but then rather unusually from 1840 or so they show the (Poor Law) Union boundaries.

The maps were engraved by Thomas Starling from drawings by R Creighton (who also drew other county maps). They generally appear alongside the gazetteer entry for the county - although in some cases the maps of all the counties are printed together in an extra volume.

Examples of the maps

Thumbnail maps Notes
Thumbnail: Lewis 1831

Lewis
Lewis's Topographical Dictionary

1831         178mm x 230mm
You will see several of these in the next 10 years.

Thumbnail: Lewis 1833

Lewis
Lewis's Topographical Dictionary

1833         185mm x 240mm
Lewis with (1832) Reform Act Polling Places and Divisions.

Thumbnail: Lewis 1838

Lewis
Lewis's Topographical Dictionary

1838         174mm x 232mm
Back to just the conventional map.

Thumbnail: Lewis 1840

Lewis
Lewis's Topographical Dictionary

1840         178mm x 230mm
Now with Poor Law Union boundaries.

Thumbnail: Lewis 1845

Lewis
Lewis's Topographical Dictionary

1845         178mm x 231mm
Still with Poor Law Union boundaries, but railways change.

International Map Collectors' Society Journals
There has been one article on Samuel Lewis in the IMCoS Journals: Issue 118 (Autumn 2009), pp 21-28. This can be read on the Journal page of the www.imcos.org website if you are a member of IMCoS; non-members can only read the contents pages of the Journals - a good reason to join!


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© Peter Walker 2017