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PHILLIPS, Richard : An Atlas of the British Islands; Containing Forty-Six Maps Newly and Originally Drawn From the Population Returns, and Other Modern Authorities

Richard Phillips, Bridge-Street, Blackfriars, London, 1808

Octavo (210 x 130 mm.), recent half red calf, preserving original marbled paper boards,spine with gilt ruled compartments, gilt title, with original blank endpapers. With typographic title page, Contents leaf, and 46 maps, one unnumbered double page general map, 40 maps of the English counties, Wales, 2 maps comprising Scotland and 2 of Ireland (Yorkshire and all general maps double page), all in early wash colour, British Isles and northern Scotland with repaired centrefold split, light foxing affecting some maps, otherwise in good condition.

FIRST EDITION. This extremely rare atlas by Richard Phillips (1767-1840) appeared in just the one edition in 1808. It contains a series of maps engraved by Henry Cooper (fl.1804-19). The same series of maps are also found in 'A Topographical Dictionary of the United Kingdom', also published by Phillips in 1808. Phillips was born in London, although of a Leicestershire family and founded the 'Leicestershire Herald' in 1792. However, the following year he was sentenced to 18 months in gaol for selling Paine’s 'Rights of Man'! After his sentence his house and business burnt down and with the insurance money he moved back to London. He became Sheriff of London and Middlesex in 1807 and received a knighthood the following year. However, bad fortune struck again when he was declared bankrupt in 1811. Only the one recorded example of this work is known in the Cambridge University Library, although we have handled examples in 2008 and 2017. Provenance: acquired 2014 for a private English collection. Refer Beresiner (1983) p. 80; Carroll (1996) 64; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).

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