Antique Road Map, London to Hythe, Kent, English, Cartography, John Ogilby, 1675

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John Ogilby (British 1600-1676) Cosmographer and Geographick Printer to Charles II. A road map from Britannia, 1675/6. The road from London to Kings Lynn, showing Royston to Downham. In oak and gilded frame. In a remarkable life John Ogilby pursued, several careers, each ending in misfortune, and yet he always emerged undeterred, to carry on. His modern reputation is based on his final career, started in his sixty-sixth year, as a publisher of maps and geographical accounts. Ogilby was born outside Dundee, in 1600, the son of a Scottish gentleman...

John Ogilby (British 1600-1676) cosmographer and geographick printer to Charles II. A road map from Britannia, 1675/6. No 5, The road from London to Barwick: London to Stilton In a grey painted and gilded frame. In a remarkable life John Ogilby pursued, several careers, each ending in misfortune, and yet he always emerged undeterred, to carry on. His modern reputation is based on his final career, started in his sixty-sixth year, as a publisher of maps and geographical accounts. Ogilby was born outside Dundee, in 1600, the son of a Scottish gentleman. While he was still a child, the family moved to London. When the elder Ogilby was imprisoned for debt, the young John invested his savings in a lottery, won a minor prize, and settled his father's debts. Unfortunately, not enough money was left to secure John a good apprenticeship; instead, he was apprenticed to a dance master. Ogilby was soon dancing in masques at court but, one day, while executing a particularly ambitious leap, he landed badly. The accident left him with a permanent limp, and ended his dancing career. However, he had come to the attention of Thomas Wentworth, later Earl of Strafford, Charles I's most senior minister. Ever one to exploit his contacts, Ogilby became a dance instructor in Strafford's household. When Strafford was sent to Ireland, Ogilby accompanied him as Deputy-Master of the Kings Revels, and then Master of Revels. In Dublin, he built the New Theatre, in St. Werburgh Street, which prospered at first, but the Irish Rebellion, in 1641, cost Ogilby his fortune, which he estimated at £2,000, and almost his life. After brief service as a soldier, he returned to England, survived shipwreck on the way, and arrived back penniless. On his return, Ogilby turned his attention to the Latin classics, as a translator and publisher. His first faltering attempt, in 1649, was a translation of the works of Virgil, but after his marriage to a wealthy widow the same year, his publishing activities received a considerable boost. One means by which Ogilby financed these volumes was by subscription, securing advance payments from his patrons, in return for including their name and coats-of-arms on the plates of illustrations. Another approach was to secure a patron, preferably in the court circle. Ogilby's first patron was Strafford, who found out too late that all leading ministers are dispensable when Charles I assented to his execution in 1641. As he re-established himself, Ogilby sought a new patron, the King himself. In 1661, Ogilby was approached to write poetry for Charles II's coronation procession; he later published 'The Relation of His Majesties Entertainment Passing Through the City of London', and a much enlarged edition the following year, which included a Fine set of plates depicting the procession. Royal favour was bestowed in 1674 when John Ogilby received the title of 'His Majesty's Cosmographer and Geographick Printer' with a salary of £13.6s.8d per annum. In 1665, Ogilby left London to avoid the Plague then ravaging the capital. The following year, in the Great Fire of London, Ogilby claimed that he lost his entire stock of books valued at some £3,000, as well as his shop and house, leaving him worth just £5. As he sought to restore his fortunes, Ogilby was already looking in new directions. The initial opportunity he seized on was the reconstruction of London's burnt-out centre. He secured appointment as a "sworn viewer", whose duty was to establish the property boundaries as they existed before the Fire. Ogilby was assisted in the project by his step-grandson, William Morgan, and by a number of professional surveyors. The result was an outstanding plan of London, on a scale of 100 feet to an inch, on 20 sheets, although it was not printed until after Ogilby's death. Ogilby then turned his attention to publishing geographical descriptions of the wider-world. In 1667, he issued 'An Embassy from the East India Company of the United Provinces to the Grand Tartar Cham, Emperor of China.' Buoyed by the response to this volume, Ogilby conceived an ambitious project, a multi-volume description of the world. The volumes were joint collaborations, in conjunction with the Dutch publisher Jacob van Meurs. 'Africa', published in 1670, was the least original of the three, both in terms of the text, maps and illustrations. In a similar vein, he issued the 'Atlas Japannensis' (1670), the 'Atlas Chinensis' (1671), and 'Asia' (1673). In 1671, Ogilby published the 'America', translated from Arnold Montanus' Dutch text. The 'America' is certainly the most original, and most important, of Ogilby's various geographical volumes, and its influence and popularity was immediate. With its completion, Ogilby turned to a project nearer his heart, the description of Britain. Ogilby originally intended to devote one volume to Britain, but as the project evolved, he became more ambitious, as revealed in a prospectus issued in about 1672: "This having oblig'd our Author to take new Measures ... to compleat within the space of two Years a Work ... considering the Actual survey of the Kingdom, the Delineation and Dimensuration of the Roads, the Prospects and Ground plots of Cities, with other Ornamentals ... into six fair volumes. The Four first comprehending the historical and geographical description of England, with the County-Maps truly and actually survey'd. ... The fifth containing an Ichnographical and Historical Description of all the Principal Road-ways in England and Wales, in two hundred copper sculptures, after a new and exquisite method. The sixth containing a New and Accurate Description of the famous City of London, with the perfect Ichnography thereof ..." In the proposals, Ogilby emphasised the scale of the undertaking; no-one before him had attempted such a vast project. He estimated the total costs would be £20,000, a staggering amount. The cost of the complete set of six volumes was to be £34. At that time, Wenceslas Hollar...

A fascinating and richly detailed antique map of Cumberland County in northwest England, drawn and published by the celebrated English cartographer John Spe...