A fine, tall example of the first edition of Ogilby’s famous road book; the first national road-atlas of any country, and a landmark in the mapping of England and Wales.

Ogilby’s work was composed of maps of seventy-three major roads and cross-roads, presented in a continuous strip form, not unlike a modern satellite navigation system. For the first time in England, an atlas was prepared on a uniform scale, at one inch to a mile, based on the statute mile of 1760 yards to the mile. Ogilby claimed that 26600 miles of roads were surveyed in the course of preparing the atlas, but only about 7500 were actually depicted in print.

“In its comprehensiveness, its incorporation of new devices of computation and delineation, and its opulence of paper, design and decoration, it immediately set a new standard for mapmaking in England… this volume was an attempt at a scientific study not only of the roads, but also the terrain and habitations on either side of the roads.” (K.S. Eerde, ‘John Ogilby and the Taste of his Times’, 1976, p.137.

ESTC identifies two issues of the first edition, one with 34, and the other, like the present example, with 28 preliminary pages, omitting the dedication to Archbishop Gilbert.